Learn how wildcard pattern matching works, how to use ? and * to crack crossword clues, and strategies for getting the right word from a partial pattern.
A word finder matches a pattern against a dictionary using wildcards. Where an unscrambler starts from loose letters, a word finder starts from a pattern — some letters known, some unknown — which is exactly the situation a crossword clue leaves you in. This guide explains the wildcards, how matching works, and how to use patterns to crack clues quickly.
Pattern matching treats your input as a template: the letters you type must appear in exactly those positions in the result, and the wildcards stand in for letters you do not know. The finder walks through the dictionary and returns every word whose shape matches your template.
This is the natural tool for crossword clues, because a crossword gives you a few confirmed letters and a set of empty squares — a pattern, not a pile of letters.
Two wildcards cover almost every situation:
A few habits make pattern matching far more productive:
How patterns resolve to words:
Pattern: c?t
cat, cot, cut, cit, cwt
Pattern: plan*
plan, plane, planet, plane, planner, planted, plant, plants
Pattern: ?o?d
bond, cold, cord, fold, food, gold, good, hold, hood, lord, mood, word, wood
Reach for the word finder whenever you know some letters and their positions but not the whole word: crossword clues, word-game hooks where you are extending an existing word, codeword puzzles, and fill-in-style word puzzles. If instead you have a loose set of letters with no positional information, the Word Unscrambler is the better starting point.
Put it into practice
Ready to use what you just learned? Open the Word Finder and put these strategies to work — instantly, privately, and free in your browser.
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