gizmobench

Boggle Solver

Type the letters straight into the board on this page and every word it spells appears in the list on the stage, each with its length, its points and the route across the grid that spells it. A step goes to any of the eight touching cells, no cell is used twice inside one word, and a Qu tile counts as one cell that supplies two letters, so QUITS across the top row of the example board is a 5 letter word spelled from 4 cells. Choose any word to light its route on the board, and choose it again when the same word can be spelled two ways. Words are checked against ENABLE, the 172,823 word public domain list this site already ships: it downloads once, when you first solve, and every board after that is walked in your browser. The board the first example loads finds 223 words worth 481 points at a minimum length of 3.

Grid 4 x 4Min length 3Qu tile onENABLE list

Choose a word to light its route

Type the board, then choose Solve.

scoring 3,4 = 1 5 = 2 6 = 3 7 = 5 8+ = 11

No word is highlighted on the board. Type the board, then choose Solve.

Grid
Minimum length
Qu tile
Word list
ENABLE

Type the letters of your board, one to a cell: typing moves to the next cell, the arrow keys move around, and pasting all 16 letters into the first cell fills the rest. A step goes to any of the eight touching cells and no cell is used twice in one word. The ENABLE list, 1.7 MB, downloads once when you first solve, and every board after that is walked in this browser.

Three boards worth trying

Each one loads its board and lights the word it is about.

  • QUITS across the top rowQu counts as one cell
    5 letters, 2 points
  • TOOT on a board holding one Othe second O would reuse the first
    TOT is listed, TOOT is not
  • QUITS again, down the second columnone word, two distinct routes
    listed once, both routes kept
How the board is walked. The word list is turned into a trie, a tree where every word shares the branch of its own first letters, and the walk carries its position in that tree from cell to cell. The moment the letters so far start no word at all, that branch of the board is abandoned, which is what turns an impossible number of paths into a search that finishes in a blink. A Qu cell descends two letters at once and counts as one step, so a word may never end between the Q and the U.
Accuracy. Words are found by walking the board itself: eight-way neighbours, no cell used twice inside one word, and a Qu tile counted as a single cell that supplies two letters. Every word is checked against the ENABLE word list, so a word that list does not carry will not appear here. The score shown is the standard Boggle length table for the grid size you chose.

Common questions

How do I type my board in?
Click the first cell and type: each letter moves you on to the next cell, the arrow keys move around the grid, and Backspace on an empty cell clears the one before it and steps back. You can also paste a whole board into the first cell and the letters spread across the rest, and if the count exactly fills another grid the board changes to it, so pasting 25 letters gives you a 5 by 5 board. Spaces, commas and anything else that is not a letter read as separators between cells, and a paste with more letters than the grid holds says how many were left over rather than silently keeping the first few.
Does it show where each word is on the board?
Yes. Every word is listed with the row and column of each cell it uses, counted from 0, and choosing the word lights that route on the board itself, with the first cell marked. When one word can be spelled by more than one route, it is listed once and choosing it again steps to the next route. Up to 25 routes are kept for a word and all of them are counted, so a word reachable more ways than that says how many were found.
Which dictionary is used, and is it the official Boggle word list?
ENABLE, the Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon: 172,823 words, public domain, and the list a large share of word games are built on. It is not any particular edition of the game and it is not an official word list, so a word your set allows can be missing here and a word here can be one your table rejects. It is the same file the anagram solver, the Wordle solver, the Spelling Bee solver and the word ladder solver on this site already use, 1.7 MB, so it costs no extra download if you have used one of those.
How are the points worked out?
By the standard length table for the grid you chose. On a 3 by 3 or 4 by 4 board a 3 or 4 letter word scores 1, a 5 letter word 2, a 6 letter word 3, a 7 letter word 5, and anything of 8 letters or more 11. The 5 by 5 game does not count 3 letter words at all, so on that grid the table starts at 4 letters for 1 point and runs on the same way. The table in use is printed under the board, and the total beside the list adds up every word found, not only the ones drawn on screen.
Why does Qu count as one cell?
Because the game prints Qu on one die: English almost never puts a Q anywhere without a U, so a single Q face would be close to dead. A cell holding it supplies both letters and costs one step, which is why QUITS is a 5 letter word spelled from 4 cells. If your set uses a plain Q, switch the Qu tile to Q and every cell becomes a single letter again, which changes the answer: with a plain Q there is no U to follow it.
Can it solve a 5 by 5 board?
Yes. Grids run from 3 by 3 to 5 by 5, which is 9, 16 or 25 cells, and a full 25 cell board is walked in a few milliseconds once the word list is in memory. Changing the grid keeps each letter in its own row and column, so growing a board leaves the letters where they were, and shrinking one says how many letters fell outside the new grid rather than dropping them quietly.
A word I can see on my board is missing. Why?
Three reasons cover almost all of it. The word may need one cell twice, which is not a legal path: on a board holding one O, TOT is listed and TOOT is not. The word may be shorter than the minimum length you set, which starts at 3 and can go up to 8. Or the ENABLE list may not carry it, which is the honest limit of any solver: a name, a plural the list omits or a word your house rules allow will not appear. The word list in use is named beside the result for exactly that reason.
Does anything I type get uploaded?
No. The page makes one request, to this site, for the word list, and it makes that request when you first solve rather than when the page loads, so reading the page costs nothing. Your board is matched against the list inside your browser, there is no account and nothing is gated, and the letters are remembered only in this browser so the page opens on the board you left. The stage draws the first 250 words of a long list and Copy takes every one of them, with the board and the score table at the top.

Words are found by walking the board itself: eight-way neighbours, no cell used twice inside one word, and a Qu tile counted as a single cell that supplies two letters. Every word is checked against the ENABLE word list, so a word that list does not carry will not appear here. The score shown is the standard Boggle length table for the grid size you chose.