Word Wheel Solver
Enter the middle letter of the wheel and the eight letters around it. Get the nine-letter word first, then every word that fits, with a count.
Type the letter in the middle of the wheel (every word must use it) and the eight letters around the rim. Repeated letters are fine.
The Word Wheel Solver finds every English word that fits a word wheel, the puzzle with eight outer letters arranged around one middle letter. Type the middle letter and up to eight outer letters, and the page lists the words you can make, with the nine-letter word highlighted when one exists. Newspapers often call this puzzle a target word or nine-letter word puzzle, and the same solver works for all of these names.
This free word wheel solver online needs no sign-up and runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you type is uploaded. It checks a list of about 52,600 English words and shows common words first. Use it when you are stuck on a wheel and want to find the nine-letter word or check the words you have already found.
How to use the Word Wheel Solver
- Type the middle letter into the Middle letter box. This one is required.
- Type the outer letters into the Outer letters box. You can enter up to eight, and at least two. If a letter appears twice in the wheel, type it twice.
- Watch the wheel picture fill in as you type, and check that it matches your puzzle.
- Set Shortest word to 3, 4 or 5 letters. The default is 4.
- Tick Leave out plurals ending in S if your version of the puzzle does not allow them.
- Choose Show: pick All answers to see every word, or Hints only (first letter) to see each word as its first letter and blanks.
- Press Solve or Enter, or click Try an Example to load a sample wheel.
- Read the summary for the number of words and nine-letter words, then look at the highlighted nine-letter group.
The plural setting and the Show setting are remembered in your browser. In Hints only mode, click a word to reveal just that word, so you can keep solving without seeing the rest of the list. Nothing is uploaded or saved on a server. Each letter in the wheel can be used only once per word, unless it appears twice in the wheel.
A word wheel example
With P in the middle and the outer letters I, M, O, R, T, A, N, T, the solver finds 44 words of four or more letters: 17 with four letters, 18 with five, 7 with six, 1 with seven and one with nine. The nine-letter word is IMPORTANT. Common words come first, such as PART, POINT, PAIN, TRIP, PORT, PAIR and PIANO. With C in the middle and POLITIAL around it, the answer is POLITICAL, among 35 words. With G in the middle and ACCORDIN around it, the answer is ACCORDING, among 38 words.
What is a word wheel
A word wheel is a puzzle with eight letters in a circle around a ninth letter in the middle. Your job is to build words from those nine letters, and every word must use the middle letter.
How to play word wheel
Make words of four or more letters, although some rules allow three. Each letter can be used only as often as it appears in the wheel. There is always at least one word that uses all nine letters.
How to play a target word puzzle
A target word puzzle is the same game under another name. The target is the nine-letter word hidden in the wheel, so the rules above still apply. Find the shorter words first, since they often point toward the longer one.
Can plurals ending in S be used in a word wheel
It depends on the version you are playing. Many newspaper versions do not allow plurals ending in S, so check the rules before you play. The solver’s “Leave out plurals ending in S” box removes a word ending in S when the same word without the S or ES is also in the list.
How do I find the nine-letter word
Look for the nine-letter word first by trying common endings and prefixes with your letters. Start with -ING, -ED, -ION, -ITY and -AL, and with RE-, UN- and IN-, since many long words are built from them. The middle letter is often part of the longest word, so build around it.
Why does the solver list unusual words
The solver checks a general English word list, not the list the puzzle’s makers use. That list includes uncommon words, so some answers may look unfamiliar. Common words are shown first, and rare words appear in paler text so you can tell them apart. A few offensive words are filtered out of the list.
Does the Word Wheel solver need all eight outer letters
No. The Outer letters box accepts between two and eight letters. Fewer letters still produce words, but a nine-letter word needs all eight outer letters plus the middle letter, so it cannot appear with fewer.
Is the Word Wheel solver free and does it send my letters anywhere
Yes, it is free, and you do not need to sign up. Everything runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded, so the letters you type stay on your own device.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the solver say no nine-letter word was found?
It shows this message when none of the words it finds uses all nine letters. The usual cause is a mistyped letter, especially a repeated one. Check each box against your wheel and make sure every letter that appears twice is entered twice.
Can I use the Word Wheel solver for the Countdown nine-letter round?
Not really. The Countdown round has no compulsory middle letter, and this solver is built for wheels that do. Use it for word wheel puzzles, where the middle letter must appear in every word.
Can I print the wheel or find answers to a daily newspaper puzzle?
No. Printing a wheel is not supported, and the tool does not provide daily puzzles or answers for any newspaper. It works only from the letters you type in.
Can I solve a wheel with more than nine letters?
No. Wheels of a different size, with more than nine letters, are not supported. The solver is built for the standard eight outer letters and one middle letter.
Does the solver use my newspaper’s own word list?
No. There is no built-in word list from any newspaper, so the solver works from its general English list. If your paper’s answers differ, the difference is most likely due to the paper’s own list.
Related tools
- Spelling Bee Solver: use it for Spelling Bee-style puzzles that build words from a set of letters.
- Text Twist Solver: use it when you need to unscramble a set of letters into as many words as possible.
- Anagram Solver: use it when you have a single set of letters and want every word they can form.
- Word Unscrambler: use it when you have a jumbled word and need to find the real one.
- Word Finder: use it to search for words that match letters you already know, such as a pattern with gaps.
- Letter Boxed Solver: use it for Letter Boxed puzzles, where words must be chained from one side to another.
- Boggle Solver: use it for Boggle grids, where words are built by moving between touching letters.
Nine-letter word puzzles on television
Countdown is a British game show involving word and mathematical tasks that began airing in November 1982. It is broadcast on Channel 4 and is most recently presented by Colin Murray, assisted by Rachel Riley with lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be broadcast on Channel 4, and 93 series have been broadcast since its debut on 2 November 1982. With more than 8,000 episodes, Countdown is one of Britain's longest-running game shows; the original French version, Des chiffres et des lettres (Numbers & Letters), ran on French television almost continuously from 1965 until 2024.
The two contestants in each episode compete in three game types: ten letters rounds, in which they attempt to make the longest word possible from nine randomly chosen letters; four numbers rounds, in which they must use arithmetic to reach a random target figure from six other numbers; and the conundrum, a buzzer round in which the contestants compete to solve a nine-letter anagram. During the series heats, the winning contestant returns the next day until they either lose or retire with eight wins as an undefeated "Octochamp". The best eight contestants are invited back for the series finals, which are decided in knockout format. Contestants of exceptional skill have received national media coverage and the programme, as a whole, is widely recognised and parodied within British culture.
Countdown was produced by Yorkshire Television and was recorded at The Leeds Studios for 27 years, before moving to the Manchester-based Granada Studios in 2009. Following the development of MediaCityUK, Countdown moved again in 2013 to the new purpose-built studios at Dock10 in Greater Manchester.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article “Countdown (game show)” (revision 1361713112, 2026-06-29), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Shortened: some sections and paragraphs were left out, and reference markers, images and templates were removed; wording is otherwise unchanged. This text remains available under the same licence.