Bacteria Word Search

Cocci, bacilli and spirilla, the parts of a bacterial cell and the lab words that go with them.

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ETBINARYFISSION

EIKSPNHCAPSULEP

OIEMRIFCELLWALL

RFBIOFILMAFKHBA

NOJCKNTLLTCNNAS

YKARANTIBIOTICM

MFSOREGERMCQTTI

ILPBYOGURTCERED

SAIEOBEKHSUCORR

UGRTTYEIDFSMGIX

DEIWENDOSPOREAR

ILLWUCOLONYCNHS

ELLDNDECOMPOSER

RUURLSHBACILLUS

TMMUSCULTURERIE

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

Cell wallCELL WALL
PlasmidPLASMID
FlagellumFLAGELLUM
CapsuleCAPSULE
ProkaryotePROKARYOTE
EndosporeENDOSPORE
CoccusCOCCUS
BacillusBACILLUS
SpirillumSPIRILLUM
Binary fissionBINARY FISSION
ColonyCOLONY
BiofilmBIOFILM
DecomposerDECOMPOSER
NitrogenNITROGEN
YogurtYOGURT
BacteriaBACTERIA
MicrobeMICROBE
GermGERM
AntibioticANTIBIOTIC
CultureCULTURE

20 words from the Bacteria Key Terms list.

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Answer key: Bacteria Word Search

ETBINARYFISSION

EIKSPNHCAPSULEP

OIEMRIFCELLWALL

RFBIOFILMAFKHBA

NOJCKNTLLTCNNAS

YKARANTIBIOTICM

MFSOREGERMCQTTI

ILPBYOGURTCERED

SAIEOBEKHSUCORR

UGRTTYEIDFSMGIX

DEIWENDOSPOREAR

ILLWUCOLONYCNHS

ELLDNDECOMPOSER

RUURLSHBACILLUS

TMMUSCULTURERIE

CELL WALL, PLASMID, FLAGELLUM, CAPSULE, PROKARYOTE, ENDOSPORE, COCCUS, BACILLUS, SPIRILLUM, BINARY FISSION, COLONY, BIOFILM, DECOMPOSER, NITROGEN, YOGURT, BACTERIA, MICROBE, GERM, ANTIBIOTIC, CULTURE

Next step Type in the terms from your own microbe unit Scramble the same bacteria words

All 120 words

Parts of a Bacterial Cell 22

Capsule A layer of polysaccharide that lies outside the envelope of many bacteria.
Cell wall The structural layer just outside the membrane, which supports and protects a bacterium.
Chromosome In most prokaryotes, a molecule of DNA that forms a closed ring.
Circular The shape of the DNA molecule in most prokaryote chromosomes.
Cytoplasm All the material enclosed by the membrane.
DNA The genetic material, found in the nucleoid and in plasmids.
Endospore A dormant, tough structure that some bacteria make; it can survive without nutrients.
Envelope The wrapping of a bacterium, outside which a capsule may lie.
Fimbriae Fine filaments of protein on a bacterium's surface, sometimes called attachment pili.
Flagellum A long, whip-like filament that spins at its base and drives a bacterium along like a propeller.
Membrane The thin barrier that separates the inside of a cell from its surroundings.
Micrometer A millionth of a meter; bacteria are typically a few of these long.
Microscopic Too small to be seen without a lens.
Motor The part at the base of a flagellum that turns it.
Nucleoid The irregularly shaped region of a prokaryote that holds its genetic material.
Peptidoglycan The mesh-like layer of sugars and amino acids around a bacterium's membrane.
Pilus A hair-like appendage on the surface of many bacteria.
Plasmid A small, usually circular piece of DNA that sits apart from the chromosome and copies itself.
Prokaryote An organism with no distinct nucleus and no other membrane-bound organelles.
Ribosome A particle, found in every cell, that builds proteins.
Slime layer A loose, easily removed coat of material around some bacteria.
Unicellular Made up of only one cell.

Show all 120 words (98 more)

Shapes and Kinds of Bacteria 23

Anaerobe An organism that does not require oxygen for growth.
Archaea A domain of single-celled organisms, separate from the bacteria.
Bacillus A bacterium shaped like a short stick; the name comes from the Latin for stick.
Chain The line that streptococci tend to form as they grow, because they divide along one axis.
Cluster The irregular, grape-like bunch that staphylococci form by dividing along several axes.
Coccus A bacterium that is spherical; the plural ends in -i and the name comes from the Greek for grain.
Comma The punctuation mark whose shape some slightly curved bacteria share.
Corkscrew A twisted shape named for a tool that pulls stoppers from bottles.
Cyanobacteria Photosynthetic microbes, informally blue-green algae, the first organisms known to make oxygen.
Domain In the system of 1990, one of three great groups of life: Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya.
Extremophile An organism able to live in extreme heat, pressure, radiation, saltiness or acidity.
Filament The long thread a bacterium becomes when it keeps growing without dividing.
Genus The rank above species; Escherichia and Lactobacillus are each the name of one.
Gram negative Describes bacteria that lose the crystal violet and are stained pink or red.
Gram positive Describes bacteria with a thick wall layer that retains the crystal violet stain.
Mycoplasma A genus of bacteria that have no wall around their membrane.
Rod A straight stick shape, one of the commonest shapes of bacteria.
Sphere A ball shape, one of the commonest shapes of bacteria.
Spiral A winding shape, like a spring, seen in some bacteria.
Spirillum A bacterium with a twisted body; the plural is spirilla.
Spirochete A bacterium with a long, tightly coiled body.
Thermophile An organism that does best in heat, at 41 to 122 degrees Celsius.
Vibrio A bacterium shaped like a slightly curved stick.

How Bacteria Live and Grow 24

Aerobe An organism able to live and grow where there is oxygen.
Binary fission The way a bacterium reproduces: it copies its DNA, then splits into two.
Biofilm A community of microbes that stick to each other and often to a surface, in a slimy matrix.
Chemosynthesis Making organic matter with energy from inorganic chemicals, not from sunlight.
Chemotaxis Movement of an organism in response to a chemical.
Clone An organism genetically identical to its ancestor.
Colony A visible mass of bacteria on a plate, all descended from one single ancestor.
Conjugation The transfer of genetic material between bacteria by direct contact.
Daughter With "cell", either of the two made when a bacterium splits.
Decay The breaking down of dead plants and animals, in which bacteria play a part.
Divide To split into two.
Dormant Alive but inactive, as an endospore is.
Double What some populations of bacteria can do as quickly as every 17 minutes.
Growth The multiplying of bacteria by splitting in two.
Habitat The place where an organism lives; bacteria are present in most of Earth's.
Mat With "microbial", a many-layered sheet of bacteria or archaea.
Motile Able to move itself.
Mutation A change in DNA; unless one occurs, a bacterium's offspring are genetically identical to it.
Nutrient A substance that a living thing takes in to live and grow.
Oxygen The gas that cyanobacteria were the first organisms known to produce.
Phage Informal name for a virus that infects bacteria.
Quorum With "sensing", the signaling that lets bacteria detect and respond to how crowded they are.
Survive To stay alive; an endospore can do so through drying, heat and freezing.
Swim To move through liquid, as a bacterium does with its flagellum.

Bacteria in Nature and Food 23

Bioremediation The use of a biological system to remove pollutants from air, water or soil.
Compost A mixture made by decomposing plant and food waste, used to improve soil.
Cycle With "nitrogen", the path by which this element moves among air, land and sea.
Decomposer An organism that breaks down dead organisms and releases their nutrients.
Fermentation A way of getting energy from sugars without oxygen, used to make foods such as yogurt.
Gut The digestive tract, home to bacteria and other microorganisms in animals.
Kefir A fermented milk drink, like a thin yogurt, made with "grains".
Kimchi A traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables.
Lactic acid What bacteria make from the sugars in milk, giving yogurt its tart flavor.
Legume A plant of the pea family.
Microbiome The community of microorganisms found living together in a given habitat.
Natto A traditional Japanese food of whole soybeans fermented with a kind of Bacillus.
Nitrogen The element that some bacteria take from the air and fix into compounds such as ammonia.
Nodule A growth on the root of a legume that houses nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Probiotic A live microorganism intended to support the health of the one that takes it.
Rhizobia Bacteria that fix nitrogen once they are established inside the root growths of legumes.
Sauerkraut Finely cut raw cabbage fermented by lactic acid bacteria.
Sourdough A leavening of naturally occurring yeast and lactobacillus bacteria, and the bread made with it.
Stromatolite A layered rock formation built mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms.
Symbiosis Any close, long-lasting relationship between living things of two species.
Vinegar A sour liquid in which acetic acid bacteria have turned ethanol into acetic acid.
Wastewater Sewage and used water; one treatment uses air and a floc of bacteria and protozoa.
Yogurt A food made when bacteria ferment milk.

Germs, Medicine and the Lab 28

Agar A jelly-like substance from red algae, used to set the growth medium in a plate.
Antibiotic A type of substance that is active against bacteria and is used to fight bacterial infections.
Autoclave A machine that uses raised temperature and pressure; labs use it to free objects of all life.
Bacteria Small single-celled organisms found almost everywhere on Earth.
Culture Microorganisms multiplied on purpose in a prepared medium in the laboratory.
Disinfect To destroy microorganisms on a surface with a chemical.
Fleming Scottish physician who discovered penicillin in 1928.
Germ An everyday word for a microorganism that can cause disease.
Gram stain A method that sorts bacteria into two large groups by the way their walls hold a dye.
Hygiene Practices that people carry out to keep their health.
Immune With "system", the network that protects an organism from diseases.
Incubator A device that keeps cultures at the best temperature and humidity for growing.
Infection The invasion of tissues by disease-causing organisms and their multiplying there.
Leeuwenhoek Dutch microscopist who first observed bacteria, with a single-lens instrument of his own design.
Microbe An organism of microscopic size.
Microbiology The scientific study of microorganisms.
Microscope The instrument through which bacteria were first observed, in 1676.
Pasteurize To treat milk or juice with mild heat so that pathogens die and it keeps longer.
Pathogen In the broadest sense, any organism or agent that can produce disease.
Penicillin One of a group of antibiotics originally obtained from Penicillium molds.
Petri dish A shallow, transparent, lidded container in which microorganisms are grown.
Resistance What microbes have when they evolve ways to protect themselves from a drug.
Sterile Free of all forms of life, as an object is after treatment with high heat and pressure.
Streak To draw a wire across a plate so that separate colonies grow.
Streptomyces A genus that makes more than two in three of the natural-origin antibiotics in clinical use.
Swab A wad of cotton wrapped around a short stick.
Toxin A naturally occurring poison produced by living cells or organisms.
Vaccine A biological preparation that provides immunity to a particular disease.

How it works

Twenty key terms make up the opening grid of this bacteria word search, among them Cell wall, Flagellum, Plasmid, Capsule, the shapes Coccus, Bacillus and Spirillum, and Colony, Binary fission and Antibiotic. Organelles are on the cell word search.

Read the full guide

Inside a bacterium, and its shapes

Parts of a Bacterial Cell has 22 words, from Nucleoid and Ribosome to Pilus, Fimbriae and Endospore. Shapes and Kinds of Bacteria has 23: Vibrio, Spirochete, Chain, Cluster, Gram positive, Gram negative, Cyanobacteria.

Growth, food and the lab

How Bacteria Live and Grow has 24 words, with Conjugation, Chemotaxis, Quorum and Phage. Bacteria in Nature and Food has 23, such as Rhizobia, Nodule, Yogurt, Kimchi and Sauerkraut. Germs, Medicine and the Lab has 28: Agar, Petri dish, Gram stain, Incubator, Autoclave, Penicillin.

Cell wall, Binary fission, Petri dish and 5 more two-word entries hide closed up: PETRIDISH.

Questions and answers

What are the three shapes of bacteria?

Spheres, rods and spirals. A spherical bacterium is a coccus, a rod-shaped one is a bacillus and a spiral one is a spirillum. Slightly curved rods are called vibrios, and tightly coiled bacteria are spirochetes.

How do bacteria reproduce?

By binary fission: one cell splits into two daughter cells, genetically identical unless a mutation occurs. In the best conditions some populations of bacteria double in as little as 17 minutes.

Are all bacteria harmful?

No. The National Human Genome Research Institute says most bacteria in the human body are harmless, some are helpful, and relatively few species cause disease. Bacteria also ferment milk into yogurt and fix nitrogen in the roots of legumes.

What is the difference between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria?

The Gram stain tells them apart. A gram-positive bacterium has a thick peptidoglycan layer in its cell wall, which holds on to the crystal violet stain. A gram-negative one has a thinner layer, loses the violet and takes up a pink or red counterstain.

Is the bacteria word search free to print with answers?

It is free, with no account. Printing gives two pages: the puzzle, then its answer key. Tick Show clues, not words to hunt from meanings, such as "An organism of microscopic size." for Microbe.

All 120 words

Parts of a Bacterial Cell 22

Shapes and Kinds of Bacteria 23

How Bacteria Live and Grow 24

Bacteria in Nature and Food 23

Germs, Medicine and the Lab 28

How it works

Inside a bacterium, and its shapes

Growth, food and the lab

Questions and answers

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