Guide
How to Find Words by Pattern, Length and Letters
Discover how word finders filter a dictionary by starting, ending and contained letters, and how to use patterns for games and writing.
A word finder searches a dictionary for words that match criteria you specify — a starting letter, an ending letter, a contained sequence, a required letter, or an exact length. It is more targeted than an unscrambler because you already know part of the word.
What a word finder does
Instead of building words from a jumble of letters, a finder filters the whole dictionary down to the words that fit your constraints. Tell it "starts with RE, ends with ER, 7 letters" and it returns REFRESH, RECOVER, REPAIR-style matches that satisfy all three rules at once.
How to use filters strategically
- Start with the most specific constraint you know (usually a fixed length or a required letter).
- Add a starting or ending pattern from the game board to narrow further.
- If results are too few, relax one filter at a time rather than all at once.
- Use the "contains" filter for a known middle sequence, such as a hook letter on the board.
Examples
Filter "starts with S, ends with T, 5 letters" yields SPLIT, SPRINT, SHIRT, SHORT, SLANT and many more. Add "contains R" and the list narrows to words like SHORT and SLANT that include an R.
For a crossword clue of "_ A _ E" (4 letters, A in position 2), a length filter plus a contains filter helps you brainstorm candidates such as GAME, CAVE, DATE.
When a word finder is useful
- Scrabble and Words With Friends when you know a hook letter on the board.
- Crossword solving when you have some letters filled in.
- Brainstorming rhyming or alliterative words for poetry and lyrics.
- Building vocabulary lists for a specific prefix or suffix.
Word finder vs. word unscrambler
A word unscrambler builds words from a fixed set of letters you hold; a word finder filters the entire dictionary by pattern. Use the unscrambler when you have tiles to spend, and the finder when you know the shape of a word but not its letters.
Put it into practice
Use the Word Finder right now — free, in your browser, no sign-up required.
Try the Word FinderMore guides
- How to Unscramble Letters Into Words
- How to Find Anagrams of Any Word
- How to Count Words, Characters and Reading Time Accurately
- How to Use a Random Word Generator for Games, Writing and Brainstorming
- How to Count Characters (With and Without Spaces)
- How to Convert Text Between Cases (UPPER, lower, Title, camelCase and More)
- How to Clean Up Messy Text (Spaces, Line Breaks and Whitespace)
- How to Remove Duplicate Lines From a List
Related free tools
More free online utilities that pair well with this one — same-category tools for the same task, plus handy extras from other categories.