Trugs Word Search
Phonics puzzles you can print
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
2,235 decodable words across the 15 stages of the trugs phonics activities. Play wordsearch on screen, or print a class set of worksheet puzzles.
Word searches that teach reading, built on a structured phonics programme rather than a random dictionary.
Every puzzle is generated from the word banks of trugs, Teach Reading Using Games, the systematic phonics programme used by teachers, tutors and specialist assessors. A child only ever meets sounds they have already been taught, and finding a word means decoding it letter by letter, which is exactly the skill being practised.
FIFTEEN STAGES, 2,235 WORDS
trugs Level 1, Foundation: Stages 1 to 5 trugs Level 2, Vowel Power: Stages 6 to 10 Level 3, Advanced: Stages 11 to 15
Stage 1: CVC words (cap, dad, fan, jam, map)
Stage 2: initial blends (brass, clap, flat, grab)
Stage 3: final clusters (damp, flask, hand, plant)
Stage 4: two-syllable words (cannot, canvas, plastic)
Stage 5: r-controlled vowels (barn, card, farm, march)
Stage 6: split digraph (chase, flame, scale, snake)
Stage 7: vowel digraphs ai, oa, ee (brain, chain, play)
Stage 8: vowel digraphs oo, ow, oi (cause, fault, launch)
Stage 9: two syllables with digraphs (agree, planet, raven)
Stage 10: three-syllable words (abandon, arrival, family)
Stage 11: soft c (accent, access, balance)
Stage 12: soft g (agent, angel, damage, danger)
Stage 13: consonant plus le (ample, battle, crackle)
Stage 14: four-syllable words (academic, navigator)
Stage 15: suffixes and endings (essential, nutrition)
Each of the fifteen stages carries its own bank of around 145 words, and every puzzle is generated fresh from it. A child who plays the same stage twenty times meets the same sounds in different words rather than memorising one grid.
Three Check rounds revise a whole level at once, and two Tricky Words rounds cover the high-frequency words that cannot be sounded out.
DIFFICULTY THAT CLIMBS WITH THE READER
Words run left to right only in Level 1, so the earliest readers scan the way they read. Level 2 adds words running downwards. Level 3 adds diagonals. Nothing ever runs backwards or upwards at any level, because a word read in reverse teaches the wrong habit.
Grid sizes are offered per stage, and only the sizes a stage can actually fill, so a child is never handed a puzzle their words do not fit.
PRINT A CLASS SET
Any stage can be printed as a worksheet, on A4 or US Letter.
Choose the grid size, then print 1, 2, 4 or 8 puzzles, one or two to a page, with or without a matching set of answer sheets for marking. Every puzzle in the set is different, so thirty children get thirty different worksheets from the same stage rather than thirty copies of one. Each sheet carries the stage name, a word list with tick boxes, and space for a name and date.
FOR TEACHERS, TUTORS AND ASSESSORS
Stage notes are written three ways, for the child, the parent and the teacher, explaining the pattern, what to listen for, and the classic pitfalls.
Set a child going on a stage in a spare ten minutes, or print a term's worth of worksheets in a couple of minutes. No preparation, no marking scheme to learn, and it maps directly onto the trugs stage a child is already working through.
BUILT FOR THE CHILDREN WHO FIND READING HARD
No timer pressure. The clock does not start until the first letter is touched, so reading the word list costs nothing
Scores reward finding words, never punish taking time over one
Tap the first letter then the last, or drag across, whichever is easier
Full keyboard control, for switch access and for anyone who cannot drag
Pinch zoom is enabled, type is large and high contrast
Screen reader labelled throughout, and no WCAG violations on any screen
FROM SENSORY APP HOUSE
We build assistive technology for people who find reading hard. Word Search comes from the same team as the trugs card range and is designed to sit alongside it, not replace it. The trugs wordsearch covers the same fifteen word stages in the same order.
PRIVACY
No accounts. No sign-in. No adverts. No data collected, and nothing leaves the device. Works completely offline.
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The developer, Sensory App House Ltd, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
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Information
- Seller
- Sensory App House Ltd
- Size
- 668.7 KB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © Sensory App House Ltd and Read Successfully Ltd