Hard / 22 × 22
World Capitals Word Search
24 words · All eight directions
Letter & A4 · Word list on paper & in answers
24 preset theme words · Eight directions
Print this puzzleWorld Capitals
24 preset words · Eight directions
Your found words appear here.
Drag along a word, or tap both ends.
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- TOKYO
- PARIS
- LONDON
- BERLIN
- MADRID
- LISBON
- ROME
- VIENNA
- PRAGUE
- WARSAW
- OSLO
- HELSINKI
- STOCKHOLM
- ATHENS
- DUBLIN
- OTTAWA
- CANBERRA
- WELLINGTON
- CAIRO
- NAIROBI
- ANKARA
- BANGKOK
- SEOUL
- HANOI
WordSearchClub · https://wordsearchclub.com/hard/world-capitals/ · Version 1
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Find 24 world capitals in a fixed 22 by 22 grid. Reverse and diagonal directions are enabled, with the online target list hidden.
Keep your flow
One more good puzzle.
A little more to discover.
A journey through political geography
A capital city tells a different story from a country's largest city. Some capitals grew around courts and trading routes; others were deliberately planned to provide a seat of government. Geography, historical compromises, and the distribution of political power all influence where a capital is located. This puzzle draws on familiar national capitals across several continents, so your memory of a map is as useful as your ability to scan letters. You do not need to know populations or national flags. The challenge is recognizing city names when their usual visual shape has been broken by an unfamiliar direction.
Why this particular grid is demanding
There are twenty-four target names inside a twenty-two by twenty-two square. They vary considerably in length, and some share common endings or short runs of vowels. Every straight direction is available: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and their reverses. The target list is deliberately hidden during online play. Think of possible capitals before searching, then test a complete name by selecting its first and last letters. A plausible place name that is not in this puzzle's target set will not count. That rule keeps the fixed challenge consistent rather than accepting any city that happens to appear in the filler.
A method that leaves less to chance
Begin with capitals whose spelling you can recall confidently, especially longer names with a distinctive combination of consonants. Scan for their initial letter, but also check their final letter: a backwards answer is often easier to notice from its ending. When a candidate fails, inspect the same run in the opposite direction before abandoning it. After a successful selection, use the marked line as a visual landmark while checking neighboring rows. Work in small sections of the board instead of repeatedly sweeping the entire square. On a phone, the complete board fits the screen. Use focus mode to keep the board, progress and answer controls together.
Take the same journey onto paper
Printing provides the complete target list alongside this exact grid, making the paper edition a more guided version of the same challenge. The separate answer view contains the stored solution paths; it does not create a new puzzle or change your online score. There is no time limit and no promised finishing time. If you want another demanding topic after this one, the related hard puzzles keep the same selection rules while changing the knowledge you bring to the board. A large-print puzzle offers a calmer break with fewer words and larger letters.
Edited by WordSearchClub · Grid and answer paths checked · Puzzle version 1