Cell Cycle Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on the cell cycle, from interphase through the stages of mitosis to cytokinesis.

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Cell Cycle Crossword

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Answer key: Cell Cycle Crossword

1P2DAUGH3TEREO4S5CLPKYOH6M7INTERPHASENOHSTKAEAISP8SPINDLE9BHELA10MITOSISOSI11ZYGOTE12ANAPHASED

Across 2 DAUGHTER · 7 INTERPHASE · 8 SPINDLE · 10 MITOSIS · 11 ZYGOTE · 12 ANAPHASE

Down 1 PROPHASE · 3 TELOPHASE · 4 SKIN · 5 CYTOKINESIS · 6 METAPHASE · 9 BLOOD

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Interphase: G1, S and G2 19

  • Centriole Barrel-shaped part found in pairs in animal cells
  • Centrosome Before division it duplicates, and the pair move to opposite ends of the cell
  • Chromatin Named in the 1800s for the way it strongly absorbed dyes
  • Gap What the G of G1 and G2 stands for, in one reading
  • Genome In humans, 23 pairs of chromosomes plus a small one in the mitochondria
  • Helicase Enzyme class coded for by about 1% of eukaryotic genes; it unpacks DNA
  • Histone Protein that keeps DNA from becoming tangled
  • Interphase The cell's daily living, between one division and the next
  • Mass Cell growth is an increase in a cell's total ___
  • Nucleolus Site where ribosomes are made; it disappears as division begins
  • Nucleosome Unit of DNA packaging that resembles thread wrapped around a spool
  • Origin Place on the double helix where the copying machinery first sets to work
  • Polymerase DNA ___: enzyme family that makes two identical DNA duplexes from one
  • Quiescent Word for a cell that has stopped dividing, as in G0
  • Replication DNA ___: the work of S phase
  • Resting "___ phase": the old, misleading label for the busy time between divisions
  • Synthesis What the S of S phase stands for
  • Template What each old half of the double helix serves as during copying
  • Variable Most ___: what G1 is among the phases, in how long it lasts

Mitosis Step by Step 28

  • Anaphase Each chromosome's two halves are pulled apart
  • Arm A chromosome has a short one, called p, and a long one, called q
  • Aster Star-shaped burst of fibers at each end of a dividing animal cell
  • Centromere Waist of a chromosome, where the pulling fibers take hold
  • Chromatid Each of the two joined DNA molecules that copying produces
  • Closed Kind of nuclear division fungal cells have, inside an intact nucleus
  • Cohesin Protein complex that holds the two copies together until they are pulled apart
  • Condensin Protein complex with a central role in coiling chromosomes tight
  • Dyad Name for a joined pair of sister copies of one chromosome
  • Dynein Motor protein that moves toward the minus end of the hollow tubes
  • Envelope Nuclear ___: it breaks down in an animal cell's division and re-forms at the end
  • Equator Where chromosomes gather in a splitting cell, midway between its ends
  • Karyokinesis Alternative name for nuclear division
  • Kinesin Motor protein that walks along the hollow tubes, most kinds toward the plus end
  • Kinetochore Where the ropes of a dividing cell attach; the term dates from a 1934 footnote
  • Metaphase Chromosomes align in the center of the cell
  • Microtubule Hollow tube of protein; the fibers of a dividing cell are made of them
  • Mitosis The M of M phase
  • Open Kind of nuclear division animal cells have, with the nuclear membrane breaking down
  • Pole Either end of a dividing cell, where one set of chromosomes gathers
  • Prometaphase Stage in which the nuclear membrane breaks apart and fibers reach the chromosomes
  • Prophase The first stage: long DNA threads pack down into chromosomes
  • Rounding Mitotic cell ___: the near-spherical shape most animal cells take to divide
  • Securin Protein that is marked for destruction so that the copies can part
  • Separase Enzyme that cuts the protein complex holding the two copies together
  • Spindle Machine of hundreds of proteins that sorts the chromosomes into two sets
  • Telophase The final stage: chromosomes uncoil and the nucleoli reappear
  • Tubulin Protein whose alpha and beta forms link up into hollow tubes

Cytokinesis and the Two New Cells 22

  • Actin With a motor partner, it makes the band that pinches a cell in two
  • Asexual Kind of reproduction that needs only one parent
  • Bridge Intercellular ___: the last link between two cells at the end of division
  • Budding Lopsided division in which a small outgrowth becomes the new cell
  • Cleavage The splitting of an animal cell; also the first divisions after fertilization
  • Clone An organism made by one parent alone and, mutations aside, a genetic match
  • Cytokinesis The cell's contents are shared out and one cell becomes two
  • Daughter ___ cells: the two new cells that one division makes
  • Diploid Word for a cell whose chromosomes come in pairs, one of each from each parent
  • Fission Binary ___: the way cells without a nucleus divide in two
  • Furrow Groove that pinches an animal cell in two
  • Golgi Apparatus whose sacs deliver material for a plant cell's new partition
  • Midbody Brief structure seen just before two cells fully separate, first described in 1891
  • Multinucleate Having more than one nucleus in a shared cytoplasm
  • Myosin Motor that tightens the band round the middle of a dividing animal cell
  • Organelle A mitochondrion or a ribosome, for example; each new cell gets a share
  • Phragmoplast Plant-only scaffold on which the new partition is assembled
  • Plate Cell ___: partition that grows outward from the center of a dividing plant cell
  • Ring Contractile ___: band that tightens until the cytoplasm is pinched in two
  • Somatic Word for any body cell that is not an egg or a sperm
  • Vesicle Small membrane sac; many fuse to start a plant cell's partition
  • Wall A plant cell builds a new one between its two halves

Checkpoints and Control 26

  • Apoptosis Orderly cell death that removes the cells between the fingers of a developing hand
  • Arrest Cell cycle ___: a halt until defects are put right
  • Blood Red ___ cells have a short lifespan, so new ones keep being made
  • Checkpoint Place in the cycle where a cell is assessed and may be stopped
  • Contact ___ inhibition: growth of a cell culture eventually stops as its density rises
  • Cyclin Protein that activates a partner enzyme; discovered in 1982 in a study of a spiny sea animal
  • Factor Growth ___: natural substance that sets cells dividing
  • Frog Animal whose eggs yielded MPF, the first known promoter of M phase
  • Irreversible Word for the step into S phase: it cannot be undone
  • Kinase The K of CDK: an enzyme class that regulates the cycle
  • Lifetime A human body has about 10 quadrillion cell divisions in one
  • Limit The 40 to 60 divisions a normal human cell population manages in culture
  • Mitogen Small protein that induces a cell to begin dividing
  • Neuron Highly active brain cell that, in adults, mostly stays in a final G0
  • Nutrients A cell must have enough of these to enter S phase
  • Phosphate An inhibitory ___ group is removed to switch MPF on at the end of G2
  • Proteasome Cell machine that degrades the molecules tagged for destruction
  • Repair Mending of the body, one job of cell division
  • Restriction ___ point: where a cell becomes committed to dividing
  • Senescence State of a cell that has stopped dividing for good
  • Signal Extracellular ___: cue that a committed cell no longer needs
  • Skin Body covering whose cells are always being shed and replaced
  • Telomere It protects the end of a chromosome from fraying or tangling
  • Tissue Level of organization between cells and a complete organ
  • Ubiquitin Small tag that marks a protein for destruction
  • Urchin Sea ___: animal studied when the cycle's on-and-off proteins were found in 1982

Other Divisions and Discoveries 26

  • Bacteria Microbes that reproduce by simply splitting in two
  • Blastomere Any one of the cells made as a fertilized egg first divides
  • Color Meaning of the first Greek root of "chromosome"; the second means body
  • Embryo A many-celled organism at the very start of its development
  • Eukaryote Its name is built on the Greek for true and for nut or kernel
  • Flemming German founder of cytogenetics who published his study of dividing cells in 1882
  • Gamete What an ovum is, and what a sperm is
  • Haploid Word for a cell with only one copy of each chromosome
  • Hydra Small animal that grows a new individual as an outgrowth of its body
  • Latin Language of the dictum "Omnis cellula e cellula"
  • Meiosis Division that halves the chromosome number to make eggs and sperm
  • Meristem Zone of unspecialized cells that is the source of all a plant's organs
  • Microscope Chromosomes can be told apart through one during division
  • Monastery Cells were named in 1665 for their likeness to the small rooms of one
  • Morula Solid ball of cells formed by the first divisions after fertilization
  • Polyploid Having more than two sets of chromosomes, as many plants do
  • Prokaryote Its name joins the Greek for before and for nut or kernel
  • Regeneration Renewal of lost body parts, as in starfish
  • Remak Scientist who published observations on cell division in 1852
  • Salamander Amphibian whose fins and gills gave a 19th-century biologist his dividing cells
  • Stain It is added to cells so that chromosomes show up on a slide
  • Stem ___ cell: one with the potential to form many of the body's cell types
  • Strasburger Botanist of the 1800s who discovered how the nuclei of plants divide
  • Virchow He added the third tenet to cell theory in 1855
  • Yeast Baking and brewing microbe whose new cell starts as a small bud
  • Zygote Cell made when egg and sperm join, with DNA from two parents

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 7 to 12 and first-year college, in five sets. Terms, dates and figures were checked against the Talking Glossary of the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute (genome.gov) and English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026. No illness is an answer or stands in a clue. Licence: own work

How it works

This cell cycle crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 words, including Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, Cytokinesis and Mitosis. Chromosome, cell and DNA are never answers, because most clues need them.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the basics

Interphase: G1, S and G2 has Replication, Histone, Helicase and Centrosome. Mitosis Step by Step has Chromatid, Centromere, Kinetochore and Prometaphase. Cytokinesis and the Two New Cells has Cleavage, Actin, Phragmoplast and Midbody. Checkpoints and Control has Cyclin, Kinase, Apoptosis and Telomere. Other Divisions and Discoveries has Meiosis, Gamete, Flemming and Virchow.

Dates and figures a class can check

History clues carry their dates: cells named in 1665, observations of cell division published in 1852, the third tenet of cell theory in 1855, a study of dividing cells in 1882 and a protein found in sea urchins in 1982. Other clues give the 40 to 60 divisions of a cell population in culture.

  • Hand out Mitosis Step by Step on the day of the microscope lab, and Checkpoints and Control before the unit test.

Questions and answers

Does the cell cycle crossword puzzle have an answer key?

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

What grade is the cell cycle crossword for?

Cell Cycle Basics suits grades 7 to 10, with answers such as Mitosis, Spindle and Zygote. The five themed sets use the vocabulary of high school and first-year college biology, such as Kinetochore and Phragmoplast. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

What are the phases of the cell cycle in order?

Interphase comes first, with its G1, S and G2 parts. Mitosis follows, in the order prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase, and cytokinesis completes the division. Each of those names is an answer except the three lettered parts.

What is the difference between mitosis and cytokinesis?

Mitosis separates the copied chromosomes into two new nuclei. Cytokinesis then divides the cytoplasm, so that one cell becomes two. An animal cell pinches in at a furrow; a plant cell builds a cell plate.

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