• 90 words
  • Checked October 2026

Body Spelling Words: Parts of the Body by Grade Band

Body part spelling words from arm to diaphragm: ten spelling traps first, then lists by grade band.

Edit this list or use your own words

The 10 words of this list. Add or change any. For your own list, press Clear first.

For a sentence, put it after a colon: rain: The rain fell all day. Up to 40 words.

Sheet to show and print

List 1: ten words with a spelling trap

Words to learn. Read each word, cover it, write it, then check it.

  1. 1.elbowRest your elbow on the desk.
  2. 2.shoulderThe parrot sat on her shoulder.
  3. 3.stomachMy stomach flipped on the roller coaster.
  4. 4.muscleA muscle in my leg felt sore.
  5. 5.tongueThe frog flicked out its tongue.
  6. 6.knuckleHe rapped one knuckle on the door.
  7. 7.kneeMud covered the knee of my jeans.
  8. 8.thumbHold the page down with your thumb.
  9. 9.wristShe wore a bracelet on her wrist.
  10. 10.ankleThe sock slid down past my ankle.

Made at homeroomtools.com

Make a word search

Each word is read aloud, then used in a sentence. Type what you hear. The marks come at the end.

More options
Reading speed

Accents do not count: café may be typed as cafe, and the marks show how it is written.

Only voices built into this device are used, so the words are not sent to a speech service to be read. With no voice, a person reads the words from the last page of the test sheet.

Review test from several lists
Tick the lists to draw 10 words from

The words are mixed from the lists you tick, so a review test needs a read-aloud voice.

Next step Print body parts vocabulary worksheetsSolve a human body word search next

All 90 words

List 1: ten words with a spelling trap 10

  • ankle The sock slid down past my ankle.
  • elbow Rest your elbow on the desk.
  • knee Mud covered the knee of my jeans.
  • knuckle He rapped one knuckle on the door.
  • muscle A muscle in my leg felt sore.
  • shoulder The parrot sat on her shoulder.
  • stomach My stomach flipped on the roller coaster.
  • thumb Hold the page down with your thumb.
  • tongue The frog flicked out its tongue.
  • wrist She wore a bracelet on her wrist.

Level 1, List 2: three letters 10

  • arm The cast on her arm had ten signatures.
  • ear Whisper the secret in my ear.
  • eye Dust blew into my left eye.
  • gum The new tooth pushed through the gum.
  • hip She balanced the basket on her hip.
  • jaw The crocodile snapped its jaw shut.
  • leg The puppy lifted one muddy leg.
  • lip He bit his lip while thinking.
  • rib The x-ray showed one cracked rib.
  • toe A crab pinched my big toe.

Level 1, List 3: four letters 10

  • back Carry the bag on your back.
  • chin A drop of paint landed on his chin.
  • foot Tap your foot to the drumbeat.
  • hair She tied her hair with a green ribbon.
  • hand Wave your hand when the bus comes.
  • head The cap would not fit over my head.
  • neck The itchy sweater scratched my neck.
  • nose The dog pressed its cold nose to the glass.
  • shin The soccer ball bounced off my shin.
  • skin Sand stuck to my wet skin.

Level 2, List 4: two vowels together 10

  • brain A hard puzzle gives the brain a workout.
  • cheek A raindrop rolled down her cheek.
  • heart My heart pounded after the relay.
  • heel A blister formed on my heel.
  • mouth The baby put the spoon in her mouth.
  • nail I chipped a nail opening the tin.
  • teeth The beaver cut the branch with its teeth.
  • throat The singer cleared her throat first.
  • tooth My loose tooth fell out at recess.
  • waist Tie the jacket around your waist.

Level 2, List 5: compound words 10

  • backbone A fish has a backbone, and so do you.
  • collarbone The strap rested on his collarbone.
  • eardrum The nurse looked at my eardrum.
  • eyebrow He raised one eyebrow in surprise.
  • eyelash An eyelash landed on the page.
  • eyelid Her eyelid fluttered in her sleep.
  • fingernail Clay was stuck under my fingernail.
  • forehead She wiped the sweat off her forehead.
  • kneecap A pad covers each kneecap for skating.
  • windpipe Air travels down the windpipe to the lungs.

Level 2, List 6: inside the body and silent letters 10

  • calf My calf ached after the long climb.
  • kidney Label the left kidney on the chart.
  • liver Color the liver brown on your worksheet.
  • lung The model of a lung opened like a book.
  • nerve The model showed one long nerve.
  • palm The ladybug crawled across my palm.
  • skull The museum displayed a dinosaur skull.
  • spine Sit up tall and straighten your spine.
  • thigh The kitten slept across my thigh.
  • vein The blue line on the diagram is a vein.

Level 3, List 7: bones by their science names 10

  • coccyx The coccyx is also called the tailbone.
  • cranium Your cranium surrounds your brain.
  • femur The femur is the thigh bone.
  • humerus The humerus runs from shoulder to elbow.
  • pelvis Point to the pelvis on the skeleton.
  • sacrum The sacrum is a bone of the pelvis.
  • skeleton The science room has a plastic skeleton.
  • sternum Ribs connect to the sternum in front.
  • tibia The tibia is also called the shinbone.
  • vertebra Each vertebra is one bone of the spine.

Level 3, List 8: organs and airways 10

  • abdomen Your stomach is inside your abdomen.
  • diaphragm The diaphragm moves each time you breathe.
  • intestine Food moves from the stomach to the intestine.
  • larynx Your voice starts in the larynx.
  • pancreas The pancreas lies behind the stomach.
  • sinus A sinus is a hollow space in the skull.
  • spleen The spleen sits to the left of the stomach.
  • thyroid The thyroid is a gland in the neck.
  • tonsil A tonsil sits on each side of the throat.
  • trachea Trachea is the science name for windpipe.

Level 3, List 9: joints, muscles and senses 10

  • biceps The biceps bulged when he lifted the crate.
  • cartilage The outer ear is made of cartilage.
  • cochlea The cochlea is shaped like a snail shell.
  • cuticle The cuticle edges each fingernail.
  • follicle Each hair grows from a follicle.
  • ligament A ligament holds two bones together at a joint.
  • limb An arm or a leg is a limb.
  • scalp Shampoo tingled on my scalp.
  • tendon A tendon connects muscle to bone.
  • torso A vest covers only the torso.

How it works

Stomach ends in ch said as k, muscle hides a c and knuckle starts with a silent k. These 90 body part words open on ten such traps, then run in three grade bands from arm and leg to diaphragm and cochlea.

Read the full guide

The lists by grade band

List 1 mixes the grades: ten words whose letters do not match their sound. Level 1, for kindergarten to 2nd grade, has three-letter and four-letter words (hip, chin, neck). Level 2, for 3rd to 5th grade, has vowel pairs (throat, waist), compounds (eyebrow, kneecap) and words for inside the body (kidney, spine). Level 3, for 6th grade and up, has science names: femur, larynx, cartilage. The bands are only our suggestion.

The silent letters, one by one

Knee, knuckle and kneecap start with a silent k, wrist with a silent w. Thumb and limb end in a silent b, calf and palm hide an l, and diaphragm a g. In trachea and cochlea, as in stomach, ch is said as k.

  • Muscle comes from Latin musculus, little mouse, says the American Heritage Dictionary; the c of musculus stayed in the spelling.
  • Stomach, trachea and cochlea come from Greek words the American Heritage Dictionary writes with kh: stomakhos, trakheia, kokhlias.

Questions and answers

How do you spell stomach?

S, t, o, m, a, c, h: an o that sounds like the u in drum, then ch said as k. There is no e at the end; the e belongs to ache, as in stomachache.

Which body parts are compound words?

List 5 has ten written as one word: eyebrow, eyelash, eyelid, forehead, fingernail, kneecap, eardrum, backbone, collarbone and windpipe. Earlobe is left out because the American Heritage Dictionary also allows ear lobe.

What are hard body part words to spell?

The Level 3 science names. Diaphragm has a silent g, coccyx has a double c, then y and x, and larynx ends in ynx. Esophagus is left out: the American Heritage Dictionary also allows oesophagus, and the test takes one spelling.

Is it humerus or humorous?

Humerus is the bone that runs from shoulder to elbow; humorous means funny. They sound the same, so List 7 reads The humerus runs from shoulder to elbow and marks humorous wrong as a sound-alike.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Flashcards