What’s a 10 letter word for a Spanish word game?
Crucigrama (crossword)!
My grandmother is obsessed with crossword puzzles, and she does at least one every single day.
One day, while working on her latest puzzle, she mused: “I’d be fluent in a foreign language if I spent as much time studying one as I spend doing crosswords.”
Grandma was onto something there: Why not combine the two passions? Improve your language skills with these Spanish crossword puzzle resources!
Contents
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Online Spanish Crossword Puzzles
Okay, so now you are pumped and want to learn Spanish with crossword puzzles.
Not to worry! You have an unlimited supply right at your fingertips. Here are ten of the best websites for Spanish crossword puzzles:
Lexis Rex
The crosswords on this awesome little website come in three difficulty levels and new puzzles are added daily.
You can solve the crosswords online by just typing your answers directly into them, and there are even buttons for entering special characters like accented letters in case you are not sure how to do so on your keyboard.
Lexis Rex also gives you access to some learning resources and a number of other word games useful for learners, like Spanish “Hangman,” “Bingo,” sentence builders and more.
Panagrama
This is as educational as its green parrot mascot is adorable! Panagrama allows you to choose between Spanish and English (and even French) crosswords.
Puzzles consist of Spanish words, and to solve each clue you simply enter the English translation. Switch to the Spanish version of the site to flip this around (English clues with Spanish answers).
Crossword Hobbyist
Welcome to the crossword enthusiast’s paradise! This site was made by puzzle lovers and has an entire section devoted to Spanish puzzles. There are many puzzles with clues presented in a variety of different ways, and all of them are solvable right in your browser.
Since these are made by other people, keep in mind that the quality varies. Check the ratings and add your own to help others!
Mundijuegos
This Spanish gaming website has more graphics and interactivity than your average crossword site.
Registration is required in order to access the games, but once you do, you can start playing the Spanish version of Scrabble and other crossword-like word games against other players all around the world. Make some Spanish friends while you play!
Linguno
You’ll never run out of Spanish crossword puzzles with Linguno! This handy language learner website actually has more than 10 new crossword puzzles each day. These cover all levels, from A1 to C2, and you can even do themed crosswords, with topics like food, science and even shopping.
Even more creatively, there are crosswords that are focused on grammar points like Spanish tense conjugations.
Spanish Level
Spanish crossword puzzles aren’t just for advanced speakers. There’s also Spanish Level, which makes crosswords that are meant for beginner learners. If you’ve never done Spanish crossword puzzles before, this is a good place to start.
The crosswords here have specific themes, including vegetables, animals and members of the family in Spanish. They’re good for quick practice sessions because they often consist of less than 10 items.
El País
For more of a challenge, try native-speaker crosswords at El País, one of the top newspapers in Spain. Based in Madrid, it releases new crossword puzzles every day across two levels: mini and expert.
This is best suited for advanced learners since you’ll have to know historical references, pop culture, news, and even Spain-specific slang. After all, even native speakers can be boggled by some of the questions.
Diario Sur
Diario Sur is another Spanish newspaper with a great crossword collection. It’s a well-known newspaper in Southern Spain, with the headquarters in Malaga. Four new crosswords are published here every day across four levels: mini, easy, half, and difficult.
Mini crosswords have only around 15 questions, while difficult crosswords go up to more than 40 questions. The settings are pretty flexible–you can even set it up to instantly let you know if you enter a wrong letter.
El Tiempo
If you’re looking to practice Latin American Spanish, one resource is El Tiempo, one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in Colombia. You can practice with basic crosswords first, or go straight to expert-level ones!
The main difference is basic crosswords allow you to peek at letters and answers. It’s possible to check the solution for the whole crossword right away. There’s even the option to print the crossword as a PDF if you prefer to solve it on paper.
Cruciverbalista
This is pretty unique compared to the other websites because it’s a personal blog by someone who makes crossword puzzles as a hobby. The author is a filmmaker and director from Argentina, so a lot of his puzzles feature references to movies.
They sometimes have a creative twist and test out vocabulary that you might not get to use in other crossword puzzles. For example, some of the themes are body-related slang, sports and even landscapes in Argentina. Just keep in mind that you might have to use Argentinian Spanish sometimes!
Physical Spanish Crossword Books
Do you like your puzzles in physical form? There is something satisfying about putting pen to paper and solving some puzzles by hand!
Most of the websites I listed above have printer-friendly versions of their crossword puzzles.
You can also mosey on over to Amazon and purchase one of many crossword puzzle books. Here are five excellent choices to get you started:
“Spanish Crosswords: Level 1”
This is the perfect book to ease into Spanish crosswords for beginners. Puzzles are meant for students in particular and have English clues with Spanish solutions.
The words used here are pulled from the 2,000 most common Spanish words, making this collection of 125 puzzles the perfect vocabulary-building tool for those just starting with the language.
“Easy Spanish Crossword Puzzles”
This book is made with learners in mind. The first half has puzzles with English clues and Spanish answers and covers topics like grammar, core vocabulary and Spanish culture.
The second half throws you into the deep end with clues and answers completely in Spanish so you can apply what you learned.
“Spanish Crossword Puzzles for Practice and Fun”
Mix it up with this collection, which features puzzles with English clues and Spanish answers, ones entirely in Spanish and even ones with Spanish clues and English solutions.
The puzzles are thematic, making them great for learning vocabulary concerning technology, food, body parts and many other useful topics.
“Spanish Crossword Puzzles for Adults Vol 1”
If you are looking for a challenge, you will find it in this tome for native Spanish speakers. Answers are more obscure here, and contain Spanish from all over the world (as opposed to being specific to one region).
It will definitely give your brain (and Googling skills) a workout—and expand your vocabulary with words you might not otherwise have thought to learn!
“El libro de oro de los crucigramas”
Are you learning Mexican Spanish? Try these crossword puzzles, created for Mexican speakers and featuring cultural terms and vocabulary specific to the region.
This book compiles high-quality crossword puzzles, all with good ratings and by well-known creators. What makes it interesting is the diversity–the crossword puzzles are taken from different sources, so their styles can vary a lot.
I’d recommend it for intermediate and advanced Spanish learners since some of the questions require a bit of research.
What to Do When You Get Stuck
One thing that drives my grandma nuts is getting stuck on a clue. She wanders around the house muttering about horizontales (across) and verticales (down).
Grandma’s sense of pride will not let her use the internet or other resources to solve her crossword puzzles.
Do not be like grandma! There is no shame in using resources to help you solve puzzle clues.
In fact, it is a great idea! By looking up unknown words, you will be learning new vocabulary and adding to your knowledge base.
Here are a few indispensable resources for getting unstuck in crossword puzzles:
You will find new words by looking up solutions. Add them to your vocabulary list and learn them.
Since crossword puzzles can use a lot of tricky vocabulary, you can get better at them by building your vocabulary. The immersion program FluentU exposes you to diverse Spanish vocabulary as well as pop culture.
Make Your Own Spanish Crossword Puzzles!
If you become so obsessed with Spanish crossword puzzles that you blaze through all of these resources, then you can always make your own.
You can make them as challenging or as easy as you want and focus on words that you are learning.
Making puzzles by hand can be challenging—luckily, Crossword Hobbyist has a handy “create your own crossword” tool you can use.
The Benefits of Spanish Word Puzzles
Puzzles of all kinds (including word puzzles) are beneficial to the brain. They sharpen your memory and learning skills, which is ideal for learning Spanish.
Crossword puzzles improve your verbal fluency, build your problem-solving skills, increase your pattern recognition ability and, of course, they are fun!
If you switch your daily crossword to a Spanish one, you will be improving your language skills.
Some crossword puzzles are even made specifically for Spanish learners: they teach you new vocabulary words and strengthen your knowledge of existing ones.
As one final bonus, doing puzzles in Spanish will train you to think in Spanish. This is one huge step towards fluency!
¡Anda! (Wow!) That is mind-blowing, isn’t it?
Whether you find them online, pack them into your bag for a lunch break or even make your very own Spanish crossword puzzles, do not overlook these excellent little learning tools packed into a fun game!
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing…
If you’ve made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.
Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.
FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It’ll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
