Bowling Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on bowling: the lane, scoring, shots, gear and the game's long history.

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Bowling 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: Bowling Crossword

1F2SRH3SA4HOOK5THUMBERE6SPLIT7GKU8BUM9PER10STIPTN11LANERR12TURKEY

Across 4 HOOK · 5 THUMB · 6 SPLIT · 8 BUMPERS · 11 LANE · 12 TURKEY

Down 1 FRAME · 2 SHOES · 3 STRIKE · 7 GUTTER · 9 PIN · 10 SPARE

Next step Print the sports crosswordFind bowling words in a word search

All 127 clues

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The Lane and the Pins 23

  • Approach Area 15 feet long where a bowler walks up and lets go
  • Arrows Targets set into the alley about 15 feet past the foul line
  • Boards An alley is 39 of these wide, side by side
  • Bumpers Side guards that keep a small child's ball in play
  • Deck The tenpins stand on this flat end part of the alley
  • Dots Two sets of them behind the foul line help a bowler place the feet
  • Dry Describes the far third of the alley, which usually gets no slick coat
  • Fifteen Height of a regulation tenpin, in inches
  • Five Number of the kingpin, in the middle of the set
  • Friction What makes a ball grip where the alley is not slick
  • Glue It joins the timber blocks before a tenpin is shaped
  • Gutter Dip along each edge of the alley; a ball in it scores nothing
  • Kickback Side wall at the far end that a flying tenpin can bounce off
  • Lane Wood or synthetic floor between the two troughs
  • Maple Tree whose timber is shaped into a tenpin
  • Oil It covers about two-thirds of the alley's length, from the foul line on
  • Pin It is 15 inches tall and falls with a clatter
  • Pit Fallen tenpins drop into it at the very back
  • Sensor Device at the foul line that spots a foot going over
  • Sixty Feet from the foul line to the middle of the headpin
  • Stripes Red bands painted round the neck of a tenpin
  • Triangle Shape that a full set of tenpins stands in
  • Waist Name for the thickest part of a tenpin

Frames and Scoring 24

  • Average Your scores for many games, evened out to a single number
  • Blind Score entered for a teammate who is absent
  • Bonus What the next ball or two add after every tenpin falls
  • Clean Describes a game with no tenpin still up at the end of any turn
  • Double Two Xs in a row
  • Dutch A "___ 200" is a game of Xs and two-ball clears taking turns
  • Fill "___ ball": extra shot earned in the last turn of a game
  • Foundation Nickname of the ninth turn, which sets up the last
  • Frame Box on the score sheet, one for each turn
  • Hambone Four Xs in a row; the name is credited to an announcer of the mid-2000s
  • Handicap Head start in points given to the less practiced bowler
  • Mark Any turn that ends with every tenpin down
  • Open Describes a turn with tenpins still up after both balls
  • Perfect Kind of game that scores 300
  • Series A night's block of games scored as a set, often three
  • Slash Symbol written when the set is cleared in two balls
  • Spare Every tenpin down with two balls
  • Sparrow Small bird's name for clearing the set in two balls three times running
  • Strike Its symbol is an X: nothing is left standing after one ball
  • Tenth The last turn of a game, which alone can have three balls
  • Total The last number on the score screen
  • Turkey Three Xs in a row
  • Twelve Xs in a row needed to score 300
  • Zero League score for a ball when a foot crosses the foul line

Shots, Leaves and Styles 21

  • Aim To line up your shot before you let go
  • Baby Name for a narrow gap that the ball can close by hitting both, such as the 3 and 10
  • Bedposts Nickname for the 7 and the 10 standing alone in the back corners
  • Brooklyn Hit that crosses over to the wrong side of the headpin
  • Bucket Close group still up after the first ball, such as the 2, 4, 5 and 8
  • Carry How well the tenpins fall when the ball hits the right spot
  • Chop To knock down the front tenpin of two but not its neighbor
  • Convert To knock down everything still standing with the second ball
  • Deadwood Knocked-over tenpins that the machine did not clear
  • Hook A ball path that bends toward the target near the end
  • Leave The tenpins still up after the first ball
  • Messenger A tenpin that travels sideways late and topples a far corner tenpin
  • Pocket Best spot to hit, just beside the headpin
  • Sleeper A tenpin hidden right behind another
  • Slide Last smooth move of the front foot
  • Split Tenpins standing apart, such as the 7 and the 10
  • Steps A bowler takes a few of these while walking up
  • Straight How most new players send the ball
  • Stroker Smooth bowler who counts on accuracy
  • Swing Back and then forward: what the arm does before the ball goes
  • Washout Wide gap in the standing tenpins with the headpin still up

Ball, Shoes and Machines 26

  • Billiards A struck candlepin sounds like a ball from this table game
  • Boys Before machines, they were hired to set the tenpins up by hand
  • Core Weight block hidden inside the ball
  • Finger A ball for tenpins is drilled for two of these and a shorter digit
  • Garage Where the first mechanical setting machine was invented in 1936
  • Hardwood Balls were made of lignum vitae, a kind of this, until 1905
  • Holes A ball for tenpins traditionally has three
  • House "___ ball": any that the center lends to its visitors
  • Juggling Clubs for this act can be mistaken for tenpins
  • Lathe Machine that turns a block of timber into the shape of a tenpin
  • Palm The small balls of some bowling games fit in it
  • Plastic Coating put on a wooden tenpin before the paint
  • Polyester Ball cover material introduced in 1959
  • Reset Button that makes a setting machine start over
  • Resin Reactive ___: grippy ball surface of the early 1990s
  • Return Ball ___: track that sends your ball back to you
  • Rubber Balls of 1905 were the first made of it
  • Shoes Footwear to rent; one sole is smooth on purpose
  • Sixteen Heaviest a ball for tenpins may be, in pounds
  • Span Distance across the ball between the places the hand goes in
  • String Word before pinsetter for the cheaper kind of machine, certified in 2023
  • Sweep Bar that clears fallen tenpins off the far end
  • Tape A bowler lines the ball's grip with it to adjust the fit
  • Thumb The shortest digit; a ball is drilled to fit it
  • Towel A bowler wipes the ball with it between shots
  • Urethane Short name of the ball cover material of the 1980s

Other Bowling Games and History 33

  • Archery Practice that King Edward III wanted when he banned bowling
  • Armada Its sighting in 1588 is said to have found Francis Drake at a game of bowls
  • Bias Uneven weight that makes a ball curve in the outdoor game of bowls
  • Bocce Sport whose name is the plural of the Italian word for a bowl
  • Boules The balls thrown in a French target game, and the name of its whole group of sports
  • Canada Country where a game with a V of targets was devised around 1909
  • Candle Object that the tall, thin targets of a New England game look like
  • Connecticut State whose 1841 law banned ninepin bowling
  • Curling Game on ice that may be counted as a kind of bowling
  • Diamond Shape in which the targets of kegeln are set up
  • Duck Bird in the name of a game with short, squat targets
  • Egypt Land where a royal tomb of 3200 BCE shows a bowling game
  • Germany Country whose kegeln led to modern tenpins
  • Golden "___ age": the 1940s to the 1970s, when bowling boomed
  • Gravel Small stones, a usual ground for the French game of throwing metal balls
  • Green Grass surface for the game of bowls; the oldest known one dates from 1299 and is still in use
  • Ipswich English town in a painting of about 1810 that shows a man bowling at ten targets
  • Jack Small target ball in the outdoor game of bowls
  • Kegler Another word for a bowler, from the German for to bowl
  • Kitty Pet name for the small target ball in the outdoor game of bowls
  • Leather Ancient balls of grain husks were covered in it
  • London City where bowling alleys were first roofed, in 1455
  • Nine Number of targets in German kegeln
  • Ontario Home province of the city where the game with a V of targets began
  • Pétanque French game whose name means foot planted
  • Provence Region of France where the modern game of throwing metal balls was set down in 1907 or 1910
  • Roman Soldiers of this empire tossed stones in a game that led to an Italian sport
  • Seoul City of the 1988 Summer Olympics, where bowling was an exhibition sport
  • Skittles Game of Britain and Ireland called the forerunner of tenpins
  • Sweden Country that got Europe's first alleys for tenpins, in 1909
  • Texas American state where a version of ninepin bowling is still played
  • Toronto City where a club owner cut tenpins down to make a lighter game around 1909
  • Worcester Massachusetts city where candlepin bowling began around 1880

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 3 to 12, in five sets. Terms, figures and dates were checked against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and, for the opening words, The American Heritage Dictionary (ahdictionary.com) in October 2026. Lane, pin and ball figures are those of tenpin bowling under United States rules; candlepin, duckpin, five-pin, ninepin and lawn games are clued by name. Licence: own work

How it works

This bowling crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 easy words, among them Strike, Spare, Gutter, Frame, Lane, Pin, Split and Turkey.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the easy one

The Lane and the Pins has Approach, Arrows, Boards and Kickback. Frames and Scoring has Double, Hambone, Sparrow and Handicap. Shots, Leaves and Styles has Pocket, Brooklyn, Sleeper and Bedposts. Ball, Shoes and Machines has Polyester, Urethane, Resin and Lathe. Other Bowling Games and History has Skittles, Bocce, Kegler and Pétanque.

Figures a class can check

Number answers come from the tenpin rules: Sixty feet from the foul line to the headpin, Fifteen inches for a pin, Sixteen pounds for the heaviest ball and Twelve strikes in a row for a perfect 300.

  • For a bowling unit in PE, hand out Frames and Scoring before the class keeps score by hand.

Questions and answers

Is there a printable bowling crossword puzzle with answers?

Yes. Press Print: the grid and its clues come first and the answer key prints last, filled in, with the answers by clue number. It is free, with no sign-up.

What grade is the bowling crossword puzzle for?

Easy Bowling Words suits grades 3 to 6. The five themed sets suit grades 5 to 12 and league bowlers, with answers such as Hambone, Washout and Urethane. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

How is a strike scored in bowling?

A strike scores ten plus the pins knocked down by the next two balls. A spare scores ten plus the next one ball. Twelve strikes in a row make a perfect game of 300.

What is a turkey in bowling?

Three strikes in a row in one game. Two in a row is a double, and four is often called a hambone. All three names are answers in Frames and Scoring.

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