Biome Crossword Puzzle Printable

Print a biome vocabulary crossword clued by climate and life, from tundra and taiga to savanna, desert and rainforest.

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Biome Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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Answer key: Biome Crossword

1P2ZA3OAK4MNNA5DESER6TPAAL7F8FIR9KEL10PLGA11OCEANLO12HUMID

Across 3 OAK · 5 DESERT · 8 FIR · 9 KELP · 11 OCEAN · 12 HUMID

Down 1 PANDA · 2 ZONE · 4 MAPLE · 6 TAIGA · 7 FLOOD · 10 PALM

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All 149 clues

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The Biomes 31

  • Alpine Word for the cold biome high on mountains, above where trees can grow
  • Arctic The cold region at the top of the globe
  • Biosphere The thin layer of land, water and air in which everything alive is found
  • Bog Spongy, acidic wet ground where dead plants pile up instead of rotting
  • Boreal Word for the cone-bearing forest of the far north; it means northern
  • Chaparral Shrubby biome of hot dry summers and mild wet winters, as in coastal California
  • Deciduous Word for forest whose trees drop their leaves each fall
  • Desert Biome that gets less than 10 inches of rain in a year
  • Ecosystem A community of living things together with their nonliving surroundings
  • Estuary River mouth where salt water and river water meet and mix
  • Freshwater Word for the biome of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams
  • Grassland Biome where grasses rule because rain is too scarce for forest
  • Habitat The kind of place where a given plant or animal normally lives
  • Jungle Thick tangle of plants in a hot, wet forest
  • Mangrove Tree of warm, muddy shores that props itself above salt water on arching roots
  • Marine Word for the saltwater biome
  • Marsh Soggy ground of reeds and grasses with no trees
  • Ocean Saltwater biome that covers about 70 percent of the planet
  • Pampas South American plains around Buenos Aires, grazed by cattle
  • Prairie Sea of grasses that once covered the middle of North America
  • Rainforest Hot, wet biome with more kinds of living things than any other on land
  • Reef Rocky underwater ridge that tiny coral animals build up over centuries
  • Savanna Warm biome of tall grasses and scattered trees, with a wet and a dry part of the year
  • Steppe The dry, grassy plains of Central Asia and eastern Europe
  • Swamp Wet woods: trees rising out of standing water
  • Taiga Largest biome on land: a belt of cone-bearing forest across the cold north
  • Temperate Word for the mild belts between the hot middle of the Earth and the icy ends
  • Tropical Word for the hot belt around the middle of the Earth
  • Tundra Biome of the far north with no trees, a short summer and ground frozen underneath
  • Wetland Land where the ground is waterlogged for much of the year
  • Woodland Land covered with trees more thinly than a forest

Climate, Land and Survival 42

  • Adaptation Thick fur in the cold or water-storing stems in the dry, for example
  • Altitude How high a place stands, measured up from the surface of the sea
  • Arid Very dry, with little rain
  • Biodiversity Richness of life: how many different kinds of living things a place has
  • Blizzard Hours of blowing snow so thick that you cannot see across the street
  • Burrow Tunnel home under the ground, such as the den of a fox
  • Camouflage Disguise such as a white winter coat on snow
  • Canopy Top layer of a forest, where the treetops meet and most of the leaves are
  • Climate Decades of temperature and rain records add up to this
  • Dormant Alive but not growing, as seeds are while they wait for rain
  • Drought Months or years of too little rain
  • Dune Wind-built ridge of sand that slowly creeps downwind
  • Emergent Word for the tallest trees, which poke out above the forest roof
  • Equator Line at 0 degrees that splits the globe into northern and southern halves
  • Erosion Slow removal of earth and rock by running water, wind or moving ice
  • Flood River water spilling over its banks across the land
  • Frost Icy coating after a cold night that kills tender plants
  • Hibernate Sleep deeply through the winter
  • Humid Holding a lot of moisture in the air
  • Humus Dark, rich earth made of fully rotted leaves and other remains
  • Latitude Number of degrees north or south that tells how near the poles a place is
  • Migrate Travel with the seasons to find food or warmth
  • Monsoon Wind that reverses with the time of year and soaks India each summer
  • Nocturnal Active at night, a way to escape the heat of the day
  • Oasis Green spot amid dry sands where water reaches the surface
  • Peat Partly rotted plant matter that piles up in bogs
  • Permafrost Deep layer of ground in the far north that does not thaw even in summer
  • Pole Point at the very top or bottom of the globe
  • Rainfall Amount of rain a place gets, measured in inches or millimeters
  • Salinity How salty water is
  • Season Wet or dry, or one of four: a part of the year with its own pattern
  • Shadow Rain ___: the dry side of a mountain range
  • Soil Mix of minerals, rotted matter, air and water that plants root in
  • Species A single kind of living thing, with its own two-part scientific name
  • Sunlight Light from our star, which powers plant growth
  • Tide The sea's regular climb up the shore and slide back, pulled mainly by the Moon
  • Tree line On a mountain, the height above which no forest grows
  • Tropics Region between the lines of Cancer and Capricorn
  • Understory Forest layer of saplings and bushes that grows in the shade below the treetops
  • Weather What the sky is doing today: sun, wind, rain or snow
  • Wildfire Uncontrolled blaze in wild land; some seeds sprout only after one
  • Zone Band of the Earth with its own range of temperatures

Plants 38

  • Acacia Flat-topped thorny tree of the African plains that giraffes browse
  • Aspen Pale-barked tree whose round leaves quiver; whole groves share one root system
  • Bamboo Tall, fast-growing, hollow-stemmed plant that giant pandas feed on
  • Baobab African tree with a hugely swollen trunk that stores water
  • Birch White-barked tree whose bark peels in papery strips
  • Bromeliad Pineapple relative whose tight cup of leaves holds a pool of rainwater
  • Buttress Wide, flaring root that props up a tall tree in shallow ground
  • Cactus Leafless plant armed with spines, with a thick green stem full of stored water
  • Cattail Reed-like pond plant topped with a dense, sausage-shaped spike
  • Conifer Tree that makes its seeds in woody cones
  • Cypress Tree of southern swamps that sends up woody knees
  • Epiphyte Plant that grows on another plant without taking food from it
  • Evergreen Keeping its leaves all year round
  • Fern Feathery green plant of the shady forest floor that makes spores, not seeds
  • Fir Cone-bearing tree whose cones point skyward and fall apart on the branch when ripe
  • Grass Narrow-leaved plant that regrows from its base after being grazed or burned
  • Heather Low, tough bush with purple flowers that covers open moors
  • Kelp Giant seaweed that grows in tall groves in cool coastal water
  • Larch Unusual cone-bearing tree that drops all its needles in fall
  • Liana Woody vine that climbs forest trees to reach the light
  • Lichen Crusty partnership of a fungus and an alga that grows on bare rock
  • Maple Broadleaf tree known for winged seeds and red fall leaves
  • Mesquite Thorny tree of the American Southwest with very deep roots
  • Moss Soft green plant with no true roots that carpets damp ground
  • Needle Thin, waxy leaf of a cone-bearing tree
  • Oak Acorn-bearing tree of forests that lose their leaves in fall
  • Orchid Showy flower; many kinds perch high on the branches of trees in hot, wet forests
  • Palm Tree of warm shores with one unbranched trunk and a tuft of huge leaves on top
  • Pine Cone-bearing tree whose long needles grow in bundles
  • Sagebrush Gray-green, strong-smelling bush of the dry American West
  • Sedge Plant of wet ground whose stems are three-sided, not round
  • Shrub Woody plant smaller than a tree, with several stems
  • Spruce Cone-bearing tree of the cold north whose four-sided needles sit singly on small pegs
  • Succulent Plant with thick, fleshy parts that hold water, like an aloe
  • Taproot Long main root that reaches deep for water
  • Tumbleweed Dry plant that breaks off and rolls with the wind, scattering seeds
  • Wildflower Uncultivated bloom; prairies are full of them in spring
  • Willow Tree of riverbanks; dwarf kinds only inches tall creep over the far northern ground

Animals 38

  • Alligator Large reptile of the swamps of the American Southeast
  • Anaconda Giant snake of South American rivers and swamps
  • Beaver Rodent whose dams turn streams into ponds
  • Bison Heavy grazer that once roamed the North American plains in the millions
  • Camel Hump-backed animal that can go many days without drinking
  • Caribou Far northern deer that travels in great herds; called reindeer in Europe
  • Ermine Short-tailed weasel in its white winter coat
  • Fennec Small fox of the Sahara with enormous ears
  • Gazelle Slender, fast antelope of dry plains
  • Giraffe Its long neck lets it feed on treetops that other plant-eaters cannot reach
  • Hare Long-eared runner; the snowshoe kind turns white in winter
  • Jaguar Heavily built spotted cat that hunts along rivers from Mexico to Argentina
  • Kangaroo Hopping marsupial of Australia's dry grassy plains
  • Lemming Small rodent of the far north that digs through the snow for food
  • Lion Big cat that hunts in a pride on the African plains
  • Lynx Tuft-eared cat of the northern forest that hunts snowshoe hares
  • Macaw Big, brightly colored parrot of the Americas with a long tail
  • Meerkat Small African digger that takes turns standing guard on its hind legs
  • Moose Largest deer, a wader of northern forest ponds
  • Musk ox Shaggy grazer of the far north whose herd rings its young to face wolves
  • Narwhal Whale of icy northern seas; the male has a long tusk like a unicorn's horn
  • Orangutan Red-haired great ape of Borneo and Sumatra, the most tree-dwelling of its kind
  • Panda Black-and-white bear found wild only in a few mountain ranges of China
  • Penguin Flightless seabird found almost only in the southern half of the world
  • Polar bear White hunter of seals on the sea ice of the far north
  • Prairie dog Burrowing squirrel relative that lives in colonies called towns
  • Pronghorn Fastest land animal of North America, at home on the open plains
  • Ptarmigan Grouse of the snowy north that changes its feathers to match the ground: brown, then white
  • Roadrunner Fast-running bird of the American Southwest that seldom flies
  • Salmon Fish that leaves the sea to swim up rivers and lay its eggs
  • Scorpion Eight-legged hunter of dry lands with a stinger on its tail
  • Sloth Slow tree-dweller of Central and South American forests
  • Tapir Forest browser built like a hog, with a nose that stretches into a small grasping trunk
  • Toucan Fruit-eating bird of Central and South America with a huge, colorful bill
  • Walrus Whiskered giant of northern ice floes with two long ivory teeth
  • Wildebeest Antelope that crosses the Serengeti in huge herds each year
  • Wolverine Largest land member of the weasel family, a lone hunter of the snowy north
  • Zebra Striped grazer of the African plains

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grade 4 to 8 science and geography classes, in four sets: the biomes, their climate and land, plants and animals. Each clue gives the climate, the place or the way of life that marks the answer, checked against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026. Biome is not an answer, so clues can use the word. No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

This biome crossword puzzle, printable on Letter or A4, is a criss-cross vocabulary grid clued by climate and by what lives there. It opens on 12 short words such as Taiga, Dune and Moss; four more sets cover the biomes, their climate, plants and animals.

Read the full guide

Four sets

The Biomes names them, on land and in water: Tundra, Taiga, Savanna, Chaparral, Estuary. Climate, Land and Survival explains them: Permafrost, Monsoon, Canopy, Hibernate, Nocturnal. Plants runs from Lichen and Larch to Baobab and Bromeliad. Animals places each one: Caribou in the far north, Meerkat and Fennec in dry Africa, Sloth and Tapir in the forest.

Sort after you solve

After a puzzle from Plants or Animals, have pupils write each answer under its biome. Some fit more than one, such as Moss and Lichen, which starts the discussion.

Questions and answers

Which biomes are in the crossword?

Tundra, Taiga, Savanna, Desert, Rainforest, Grassland, Chaparral and Wetland are answers, with regional names such as Prairie, Steppe and Pampas, and the water biomes: Ocean, Reef, Estuary, Marine and Freshwater.

What grade is the biome crossword for?

Short Biome Words suits grades 4 and 5. The four unit sets suit grades 6 to 8, with words such as Permafrost, Epiphyte and Biodiversity. These bands are our judgement, not a published standard.

Is the biome crossword puzzle free to print, with an answer key?

Yes. It is free, with no sign-up. The key prints last, on a sheet of its own. New puzzle draws another grid from the same clue set.

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