For teachers
Lexcavate in the classroom
Lexcavate is a free daily word puzzle. One clue leads to three related words hidden in a 6×6 grid of letters. Put it on the projector and let the class call out the words.
Open today's puzzleFree to play together. No ads. Ready for the projector.
A five-minute warm-up
- Read the clueRead it aloud and ask what kind of words it points to.
- Find the words togetherStudents call out words. You trace the letters on the board.
- Read the word storiesOnce all three words are found, each word's history opens with its sources.
Using it in class
- One screen: you play it on the projector or smartboard, and the class calls out the words it can see.
- No student devices needed: play on one classroom screen and invite the class to call out words.
- Stuck? Each word has its own hint, then its length, then up to two free letter reveals.
- Past days: every released day stays in the free archive. Use the Older and Newer buttons on the game page to move between weeks, then pick a day.
New to the game? The how-to-play guide covers the rules and controls. Its hint section explains each step.
What students work with
Vocabulary from one clue. The three answers are related words, so the class has to weigh close meanings against the clue.
Word origins with cited sources. After the third word, students can read a short, sourced history for each answer with links to the references behind it.
A standards link. Common Core standard L.9-10.4c asks students to use reference materials to find a word's precise meaning or its etymology, among other things. Nevada's English language arts standards are the Common Core. Each word story is a worked example of that kind of lookup, with the references linked.
Lexcavate is a warm-up, not a curriculum, and we make no claims about learning outcomes.
One code for each student
A classroom pack gives you one separate, one-year Plus gift code per student. Each code works once, never expires, and can be sent by email, link, or printable card from Account > Gifts.
Students claim their codes on their own eligible accounts. For projector play, the class can still call out words without signing in.
Sign in to buy a packHow the word stories are sourced
Every word story ends with a "Check the sources" list. Each answer's story links to its entries in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster, and the game won't show a story without its source links.
We check the stories against those sources. When we find a mistake in a story that is already out, we fix it and record the correction with its date, the reason and the source that shows it.
Safety, as facts you can check
- No ads. Lexcavate doesn't show ads to anyone.
- No third-party trackers. The site loads its scripts only from lexcavate.com. It keeps simple counts, such as puzzles opened and boards finished, and those counts carry no cookies and no player identifiers.
- No chat. There is no chat anywhere in the game.
- Nothing typed by other players. Player names come from our word lists, so nobody can type a name of their own, and players can't send each other typed messages.
- A family-friendly word list. Vulgar and offensive words and slurs don't count as finds. Every board is checked before release so the most offensive words can't be traced on it, except where the letters happen to sit inside an ordinary word. About our word list.
- Accounts are optional. A projector session never needs one. Our terms say: "You must be at least 13 to use Lexcavate in the United States and the United Kingdom, and at least 16 anywhere else." With younger students, you play and the class watches and calls out words.
- Optional extras. The game has public leaderboards and a players page for people who choose to make an account. They sit behind their own buttons, and a projector session never needs to open them.
The privacy policy sets out exactly what the game stores and why.
Coming soon: a printable sheet
A one-page printable of the day's puzzle and its word stories, for days without a projector.
Questions?
Email hello@lexcavate.com.