The World's Hardest (Impossible) Word Puzzles

Awesome April Fool's Day Jokes for Teachers

By Chris Dunmire, Fool-ologist

The reason I named these the World's Hardest Puzzles is not because they take an intellectual giant to figure out. Upon close inspection, and after a frustrating amount of time, unsuspecting victims, er, puzzle enthusiasts, will realize that these puzzles can't be solved. Why not? Because I designed them that way! They think they'll find the words, but I didn't put the words in!

These puzzles make totally cool April 1 (April Fool's Day) gags and may be downloaded in PDF format for free personal and classroom use. Teachers have my permission to make copies for the whole class!

Chris Dunmire's Free Printable Classic 'No-Find' Word Search Puzzle Collection

Do you have a keen word searching friend or class of students who love word-finding puzzles? Well, give them a copy of my special "Artist's Studio", vegetable or animal-theme word search puzzles and watch how long it takes them to realize they'll never find one word. Keep 'em occupied while you get some quiet time for yourself. Bear in mind, I'm not responsible for what happens when they realize they've been duped!

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Animal & Vegetable Series

Print World's Hardest "Animals" Word Search Puzzle
Animals Puzzle #12 Word Search (PDF 47KB)
No April Fool's clues or word-beginnings are embedded in this puzzle.

Print World's Hardest "Vegetables" Word Search Puzzle
Vegetables Puzzle #19 Word Search (PDF 44KB)
No April Fool's clues or word-beginnings are embedded in this puzzle.

Artist's Studio Series

Print World's Hardest "Artist's Studio" Word Search Puzzle
Color Word Search Puzzle #3 (PDF 112KB)
Your prank-ee will find only the beginnings of several words in the Artist's Studio puzzle. However, the entire word "April Fools" is embedded in the puzzle to tip them off.

Print "Dropped Artist's Studio" Word Search Puzzle
"Dropped" Word Search Puzzle #3 (PDF 126KB)
I have always wanted to create a "dropped memo" kind of April Fool's Joke, where a seemingly normal-looking office memo gets 'accidentally' dropped on the floor and when it's picked up, all the words on the memo are scattered and messed up on the page as if they could be so easily displaced.

So I did a version of this gag on the above Artist's Studio Word Search Puzzle #3. Here's the set-up:

1. Print both versions (normal, dropped) of the puzzle.

2. Show your victim the front of the normal 'intact' puzzle for a brief moment before "accidentally" dropping it on the floor. When you pick it up, secretly swap the normal version with the dropped version and hand it to your recipient with a sheepish apology: "My printer hasn't been working too well lately... Sorry if things got a little messed up."

3. After a hearty ground-rolling laugh over that absurdness, give your friend the normal-looking version of the puzzle to do. Tip: Run off before he or she realizes that only partial words appear in this puzzle, except of course for the entire "APRIL FOOLS" line.

World's Hardest Crossword Puzzle Selection

Print World's Hardest Crossword Puzzle
Arty Crafty Puzzle #8 Crossword (PDF 155KB)
Crossword enthusiasts will approach this seemingly simple puzzle with confidence, only to be dazed and confused within minutes! This gag puzzle was designed with "duel" possible outcomes:

1. The solver will soon realize that the answers that fit into the puzzle squares don't fit the questions, and give up.

2. The solver will realize that the real answer to the question ahead fits into the squares for the previous question. For example, the answer that fits into the #5 across squares ("crafts") is the true answer for #6 across ("Arts and _____").

Confusing? Absolutely! But to help you along, I've included an answer key along with the puzzle to help you keep things straight. Feel free to use this puzzle for an April Fool's (or any day) joke, or an exercise in creative thinking and problem solving! •

© 2005-2011 Chris Dunmire. All rights reserved.