Crossword solver — find answers by letter pattern
Enter the letters you already have and a ? for every empty square — for example C?T?? — and Lexora returns every dictionary word of that exact shape. It matches across more than 260,000 words, so partial answers with only one or two known crossing letters still narrow down fast. Run it yourself on https://www.lexorawords.com/crossword-solver.
How to solve a crossword clue with a pattern
- Count the squares in the answer and type one
?for each. - Replace the squares you already know with their letters, keeping the position exact.
- Search. Every dictionary word matching that shape appears.
- Fill in a crossing word, add the new letter, and search again — each confirmed letter usually cuts the candidate list by more than half.
Pattern examples
C?T??→ CATCH, CITED, CUTUP and other five-letter words starting with C and with T in the third position.?????→ every five-letter word, useful when you only know the length.??ING→ five-letter words ending in ING.
Frequently asked questions
How does a crossword solver work?
You enter the letters you already know and a ? or _ for each blank, for example C?T??. The solver pattern-matches that shape against a 260,000-word dictionary and returns every answer of the right length that fits your known letters.
Can I solve a crossword clue with only the letter count?
Yes. Enter one ? per square — for example ????? for a five-letter answer — then add letters as crossing words confirm them to narrow the list.
What does the ? wildcard mean?
Each ? stands for exactly one unknown letter. Use one ? per empty square so the answer length always matches the grid.
Is the crossword solver free?
Yes, completely free with no sign-up and no limit on searches.
Does it work for cryptic crosswords?
It solves the letter-pattern half of a cryptic clue. Once you have two or three crossing letters, pattern matching usually narrows a cryptic answer to a handful of candidates.
Free word tools on Lexora
- Scrabble Word Finder — enter your rack (use
?for blanks) and get every legal play ranked by real tile score, in TWL (US) or SOWPODS (UK). - Crossword Solver — type a pattern such as
C?T??and get every answer of that exact shape from 260,000+ words. - Word Unscrambler & Anagram Solver — unscramble any letters into every valid word, filter to an exact length for Wordle shortlists.
- Word Lists — browse words by starting letter, ending letter, length and contained letter.
- Strategy guides — bingo stems, Q-without-U words, crossword pattern method.
Full interactive results for your own letters: https://www.lexorawords.com/crossword-solver
Source: Lexora — https://www.lexorawords.com/crossword-solver. Machine-readable index: /llms.txt · typed actions: /agents.json · agent runbook: /agent-instructions.md.