Guide

Crossword pattern solver

Last reviewed 7 October 2026

A crossword slot is a length and a few known letters. It is not a rack. Pattern mode keeps the length and the positions you have already filled, and drops everything else in ENABLE.

What the mask means

Type ? for each empty square. These counts are from the same ENABLE list the solver uses:

• C?O?? — five letters, C, anything, O, then two unknowns. 68 words, including choir, choke, chord and chose.
• ??ING — five letters ending in ING. 34 words.
• A????E — six letters from A to E. 104 words. That is still a pile. Add the next crossing before you read it.

How to narrow a slot

1. Open the crossword solver, or choose Pattern on the home tool.
2. Type the mask. Letters you know stay in their squares. ? marks a gap.
3. When a crossing gives you another letter, put that letter in. Do not leave a question mark you could have filled.
4. Starts with and Ends with are optional. The mask already fixes positions. Use them only for something the mask does not say.

Do not mix this up with a blank tile

Pattern is the wrong mode for “I have these tiles, any order”. That search is All words. It is also the wrong mode for a blank in your hand. In Pattern, ? stays in that square. In All words and Anagrams, ? is a blank you can spend on any letter. A?PLE is two different searches. The rack version — 37 five-letter anagrams, including apple and maple — is in the blank-tile guide.

A pattern with one known letter in a long slot will look like a dictionary page. That is the grid being open, not the tool being vague. Add the crossing.

Open the crossword solver · How to unscramble a rack · Wordle helper

Crossword habits that actually help

Start from the crossings you already trust. A five-letter slot with one letter known is a browsing list; the same slot with three letters known is usually a shortlist you can finish by hand. Put every sure letter into the mask before you scroll.

British-style cryptic definitions still need a grid pattern for the enumeration. The enumeration in the clue — (5) or (3,4) — is the length. Spaces and hyphens are not part of the mask on this tool: enter the letters of one light at a time, or solve each part of a multi-word answer as its own pattern.

Examples with a second crossing

• C?O?? alone is broad. Change it to CHO?? when the first crossing gives H — choir, choke, chord and chose collapse toward the H-words you can test against the down clue.
• ??ING with a known first letter, such as B?ING, is a different job from a rack containing B, I, N, G and blanks. Keep Pattern for the grid.
• For Wordle-coloured rows, use the Wordle helper instead. Green and yellow are not the same as crossword crossings, even though both are five letters.

American vs British grids

US newspaper grids tend to be denser with short words and more three-letter fill. UK blocked grids and cryptics lean on longer lights and checked letters. The pattern tool does not know which puzzle you bought — it only knows ENABLE. If your paper uses a house word list, treat ENABLE results as candidates, not as a challenge bible.

When the list is still huge

Add Starts with or Ends with only when the clue or a crossing has made that certain. Otherwise you hide legal fills. Prefer tightening the mask. If you are holding tiles and the crossword is irrelevant, leave Pattern mode and open how to unscramble or the main anagram solver.

Mobile tips

On a phone, type the mask in lowercase or uppercase — the solver folds case. Use the crossword solver page when you want a layout aimed at patterns, or Pattern mode on the home tool when you are already mid-rack on another puzzle. Either path hits the same ENABLE list.