Discovery Education Puzzlemaker is completely free — its own site invites teachers, students, and parents to create and print word searches, criss-cross, math, maze, cryptogram and hidden-message puzzles from their own word lists at no cost. If you want more variety than puzzles — personalized coloring pages, photo-to-coloring pages, bingo, flashcards and worksheets from your own lesson material — Printoodle starts with 10 free credits and offers credit packs from $5.
Bottom line: For pure puzzle generation on a $0 budget, Puzzlemaker is unbeatable. Printoodle earns its keep when teachers want a wider range of printables — coloring pages, bingo, flashcards, and worksheets generated from their own material.
TL;DR
- Discovery Education Puzzlemaker is free — its own site says 'Create Your Own Puzzle for Free' with no paid tier mentioned.
- Puzzlemaker offers 10 puzzle types: word search, criss-cross, double puzzles, fallen phrase, math squares, maze, letter tiles, cryptogram, number blocks, and hidden message.
- Puzzlemaker's hidden-message tool uses a word filter to prevent randomly generated offensive words, so students can safely create puzzles for each other.
- Printoodle gives teachers 10 free credits on email verification, with credit packs from $5 and free reprints forever from your library.
- Printoodle covers more than puzzles: coloring pages, photo-to-coloring, bingo, trivia cards, flashcards, mazes, dot-to-dot, and classroom worksheets from your own lesson material.
- Printoodle outputs print-ready PDFs (Letter default, A4 toggle); Puzzlemaker puzzles print directly from the browser.
- Both tools let you use your own word lists, so vocabulary and spelling practice stays tied to your curriculum.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Discovery Education Puzzlemaker | Printoodle |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Freewinner | 10 free credits; packs from $5 |
| Puzzle types | 10 types incl. math squares, cryptogram, number blockswinner | Word searches, crosswords, mazes, dot-to-dot |
| Activity variety beyond puzzles | None | Coloring pages, photo-to-coloring, bingo, trivia, flashcards, worksheetswinner |
| Custom word lists | Yes — all puzzles use your own words | Yes — plus documents and photos |
| Input from your own material | Typed word lists only | Upload a photo, document, or briefwinner |
| Safety features | Word filter blocks offensive words in hidden messages | Safe-for-kids defaults; no trademarked characters, no NSFW |
| Output format | Printable from browser | Print-ready PDF, Letter default, A4 togglewinner |
| Reprinting | Recreate manually — no saved library | Free reprints forever from your librarywinner |
Scores
Discovery Education Puzzlemaker
puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ ↗Discovery Education Puzzlemaker is a free puzzle generation tool for teachers, students, and parents. Users create customized, printable puzzles from their own word lists across ten formats: word search, criss-cross (crossword), double puzzles, fallen phrase, math squares, maze, letter tiles, cryptogram, number blocks, and hidden message. The tool supports every grade level — kindergarten teachers use word searches for letter identification, second graders get vocabulary-review crosswords, and high schoolers tackle number blocks and cryptograms as math warm-ups. A notable safety feature: the hidden-message puzzle uses a word filter to prevent the random creation of offensive words, so students can build puzzles for classmates. Puzzlemaker sits inside Discovery Education's broader free classroom resources, which include virtual field trips and standards-aligned content, and is also accessible within the paid Discovery Education Experience platform.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzlemaker (all 10 puzzle types) | $0/mo | Unlimited puzzle creation and printing with your own word lists |
Pros
- Completely free — no account, subscription, or credit system
- Ten different puzzle types covering vocabulary, math, logic, and decoding skills
- Word filter prevents offensive words in hidden-message puzzles, so students can create puzzles themselves
- Customizable puzzle size lets teachers differentiate for varied ability levels
- Works for every grade from kindergarten letter hunts to high school number blocks
Cons
- Puzzles only — no coloring pages, bingo, flashcards, or other activity formats
- Basic, dated web interface with no design themes or graphics
- No library or account system to save and reprint past puzzles
- No AI or document-upload input — you type word lists manually each time
Printoodle
printoodle.com ↗Printoodle is a consumer web app where anyone — including teachers — can generate personalized, print-ready activity pages in seconds. Teachers can turn their own lesson material into word searches, crosswords, trivia cards, bingo, flashcards, mazes, dot-to-dot, and classroom worksheets by uploading a photo, a document, or typing a short brief. Beyond puzzles, it creates themed coloring pages, photo-to-coloring-page line art (turn a pet or family photo into a coloring sheet), and pixel color-by-number mystery pictures. Everything is downloaded as a print-ready PDF (Letter by default, with an A4 toggle), and every creation lives in a library where reprints are always free. Safe-for-kids defaults mean no trademarked characters and no NSFW output, making classroom use worry-free.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0/one_time | 10 credits on email verification |
| Credit packs | $5/one_time | Credit packs from $5; reprints always free |
Pros
- Generates far more than puzzles — coloring pages, bingo, flashcards, trivia, mazes, dot-to-dot, and worksheets
- Works from your own material: upload a document, photo, or short brief
- Free tier of 10 credits to try before buying; packs from $5
- Reprints are always free once a page is in your library
- Safe-for-kids defaults — no trademarked characters, no NSFW
Cons
- Not free-unlimited — beyond the 10 free credits, activities cost credits
- Puzzle-specific features like math squares and cryptograms aren't part of its lineup
- Credit-based pricing means heavy users need to keep track of spend
Pricing compared: free forever vs. credits
What each tool actually makes for a classroom
Which should you pick?
FAQs
Is Discovery Education Puzzlemaker really free in 2026?
Yes. Puzzlemaker's own site invites teachers, students, and parents to 'Create Your Own Puzzle for Free' across all ten puzzle types — word search, criss-cross, double puzzle, fallen phrase, math squares, maze, letter tiles, cryptogram, number blocks, and hidden message. There is no paid Puzzlemaker tier. Discovery Education does sell a broader platform called Experience for schools and districts, but Puzzlemaker itself costs nothing.
Does Puzzlemaker have a paid version with extra features?
No paid version of Puzzlemaker is advertised. The free tool sits alongside Discovery Education's other free classroom resources, and teachers who are Discovery Education Experience users can access these resources within that platform. But the puzzle maker itself is the same free tool either way — there's no premium puzzle feature set to buy.
How much does Printoodle cost for teachers?
Printoodle starts with 10 free credits when you verify your email, and credit packs begin at $5. Once you've generated an activity page, it lives in your library and reprints are always free, so you pay once per creation, not per print. It outputs print-ready PDFs in Letter format with an A4 toggle.
Can students make their own puzzles safely?
Yes, with Puzzlemaker — its hidden-message puzzle includes a word filter that prevents the random creation of offensive words, so teachers can confidently let students build puzzles for classmates. Printoodle's safe-for-kids defaults (no trademarked characters, no NSFW) also make it suitable for classroom use, though it's designed around teacher or parent creation.
Which tool is better for weekly spelling lists?
Both handle spelling lists well. Puzzlemaker is the zero-cost choice: type the words, pick a grid size, print. Printoodle also works from your own word lists and adds the option to generate the puzzle from an uploaded document, plus answer-friendly PDF output and a saved library — but sustained use beyond the 10 free credits requires buying packs from $5.
Sources
- Online Puzzlemaker | Create Your Own Puzzle | Discovery Education
- Create Your Own Word Search Puzzle | Discovery Education Puzzlemaker
- Free Classroom Resources for Teachers | Discovery Education
- How to Use Discovery Education Puzzle Maker - TeachHUB
- Education Platform & Learning Resources for K-12 | Discovery Education
- Free Word Search Generator | Super Teacher Worksheets
- Best Word Search Makers for Teachers in 2026
- Word Search Generator | Education.com