This insects word search has 65 words about small creatures: BEETLE, MOTH and DRAGONFLY, life stages such as LARVA and COCOON, the HIVE and its QUEEN, and a few non-insects like SPIDER and CENTIPEDE. Twelve are hidden in each 12×12 grid. No app, no sign-up and no interstitial before play; it works offline and plays from the keyboard.
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The insects list is the most nested on the site. FLY sits inside eight other words, BEE inside three, ANT inside two, and MITE inside TERMITE. Knowing how the generator handles that is the main trick here.
The generator never picks a word that sits inside another chosen word. If BUTTERFLY is in the list, there is no FLY to find, though DRAGONFLY and HOVERFLY may still appear, since neither contains the other. So when you see F-L-Y in the grid, read backwards from the F: the letters before it tell you which fly it is. The same goes for BEE: check whether the letters before it spell BUMBLE or HONEY.
MOSQUITO and QUEEN share the Q, and BUZZ has a double Z. HIVE, WEEVIL, SILVERFISH, LARVA and HOVERFLY have a V. K is in CRICKET, TICK, SILK and WORKER. None of these letters is common in the fill.
BEE, BEETLE, BUMBLEBEE and HONEYBEE have EE; CATERPILLAR and MILLIPEDE have LL; GRASSHOPPER has both SS and PP; COCOON has OO; GLOWWORM has a rare WW. Doubles look the same from both ends, so they are the fastest way into backwards words.
The insects list has 65 words, from ANT, BEE, FLY, HUM and WEB to CATERPILLAR and GRASSHOPPER at eleven letters. Strictly, not everything here is an insect: SPIDER, SCORPION, TICK and MITE are arachnids, and CENTIPEDE and MILLIPEDE are myriapods. They are included because most people file them under the same heading.
Flying insects take the biggest share, with eight words ending in FLY, including DAMSELFLY, MAYFLY, FIREFLY and HOVERFLY, plus MOTH, WASP, HORNET, BUMBLEBEE and HONEYBEE. On the ground are ANT, BEETLE, LADYBUG, EARWIG, TERMITE, WEEVIL and ROACH, and the jumpers and singers CRICKET, GRASSHOPPER, LOCUST and CICADA. Then the life cycle: LARVA, PUPA, COCOON, CHRYSALIS and CATERPILLAR. A hive group (QUEEN, DRONE, WORKER, HIVE, COLONY, SWARM, POLLEN, NECTAR) and a few verbs, BITE, BUZZ, HUM, CRAWL and STING, finish the list.
LADYBUG and LADYBIRD, the American and British names for the same beetle, are both included and can share a grid. GLOWWORM is written as one word.
The timer pauses when the tab is hidden, and Insects stats (played, won, win rate, best and average time) stay in this browser. The first two hints are free; once ads are enabled, more cost a short ad or a 30-second wait. Every grid has a code such as A7K3Q to replay or share, and the printable page makes insects sheets.
The insects grid plays comfortably on a phone, and the arrow keys, Space and Esc cover everything on a keyboard. Tidy Puzzles runs entirely in your browser: there is no app to install, no account to create and no interstitial before you can play. After the first visit the game also works offline, because each puzzle is generated on your device from a seed. Every board can be played with the keyboard alone, on a phone or a desktop, and your stats and unfinished puzzles stay in this browser rather than on a server.
The list has 65. Each 12×12 grid hides 12 of them.
No chosen word may sit inside another chosen word, so every word has exactly one place to find it.
No, spiders are arachnids with eight legs. SPIDER, SCORPION, TICK and MITE are on the list because most people count them as bugs.
Yes, they are the American and British names for the same beetle. Both are on the list.
Yes. Pick Insects on the printable word search page for a PDF with an optional solution page.
The mixed grid, with words from all twenty themes.
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From garden birds to birds of prey.
Any theme as a PDF, with a solution page.
Classic boards with a safe first click.
Flip and match pairs on 4×4 or 6×6 boards.
Last updated 2026-09-27. Written and maintained by the Tidy Puzzles team; puzzles are generated on your device. How it works.