anaphaseThe stage in which sister chromatids are drawn apart. They travel toward opposite ends of the cell, bent into V shapes as they go, and the cell stretches into an oval.
cell divisionThe way one living cell becomes two. It comes in two types. Mitosis makes new body cells, and meiosis makes egg and sperm cells.
centromereThe join between a chromosome's sister chromatids. It looks like a pinched-in waist, and it is not always halfway along the chromosome.
chromatidEach of the twin copies in an X-shaped chromosome. The two of a pair are called sister chromatids, and the pair itself is a dyad. They are made when the DNA is copied, before mitosis begins.
chromosomeA bundle of DNA that passes genes from cell to cell. The name is Greek for colored body, because certain dyes stain chromosomes strongly. They are easiest to see under a microscope while a cell divides.
cytokinesisThe split of the cytoplasm that follows mitosis. It finishes the job that mitosis began, and it gives each new cell a share of the organelles.
Show all 36 terms (30 more)
Mitosis and cell division, continued
daughter cellA new cell that a division has just produced. Mitosis ends in two daughter cells with the same genetic information. Each one then starts a cell cycle of its own.
metaphaseThe stage with all chromosomes on the cell's equator. A checkpoint holds the cell at this stage until every chromosome is attached to fibers from both ends of the spindle.
mitosisBody-cell division that keeps the chromosome count. The copied chromosomes are shared out into two nuclei that match. Walther Flemming named it in 1882, from a Greek word for thread.
prophaseThe first stage, when chromosomes thicken into view. The DNA was copied before this stage, so every chromosome already has two chromatids. The spindle starts to form.
spindleThe cell's machine of fibers for moving chromosomes. Its fibers are microtubules. In an animal cell they are organized by two centrosomes, one at each end of the cell. Plant cells build a spindle without centrosomes.
telophaseThe closing stage, when two new nuclei take shape. Telos is the Greek word for end. The chromosomes, tightly coiled since prophase, loosen again.
Cell cycle and dividing cells 12
cell cycleThe full loop of growing, copying DNA and dividing. Its stages are G1, S and G2, then M, the division. The stages always come in that order, and the cycle cannot run backward.
checkpointA control point that can halt the cell cycle. There are three main ones: one in G1, one between G2 and mitosis, and one in mitosis before the chromatids separate.
cleavage furrowThe groove that pinches an animal cell in two. A ring of actin and myosin, the proteins that also make muscles contract, tightens to form it. A plant cell has none: it builds a cell plate across the middle, which becomes a new cell wall.
cyclinA protein whose level rises and falls with the cycle. Cyclins switch on the enzymes that move a cell from one stage to the next. They were discovered in 1982 in sea urchins, and the work shared a Nobel Prize in 2001.
G1 phaseThe first gap: a new cell grows and makes proteins. It lasts until the cell begins to copy its DNA. Around 30 to 40 percent of the time of a cycle is spent in it.
G2 phaseThe second gap: the cell gets ready for mitosis. It ends when prophase begins. A cell whose DNA is damaged is held back here.
interphaseThe long stretch between one division and the next. A typical cell spends about 90 percent of its life in it. People used to call it the resting phase, though a cell in interphase is hard at work.
kinetochoreThe protein grip by which a fiber holds a chromatid. It is built on the centromere, and each chromatid has one of its own. The name means movement place.
metaphase plateAn imaginary line halfway between the spindle ends. The chromosomes gather along it. In an animal cell the cleavage furrow later forms where the plate used to be.
nuclear envelopeThe pair of membranes that encloses the nucleus. In animals and plants it breaks down early in mitosis, so that spindle fibers can reach the chromosomes, and a new one forms around each set at the end. In yeast it stays whole.
parent cellThe one cell that a division begins with. Its other name is the mother cell. After mitosis, the two cells it has become carry the same genetic information that it did.
S phaseThe phase when every chromosome gets duplicated. S stands for synthesis, the making of new DNA. It comes between the two gap phases.
Division in living things 12
asexual reproductionOne parent making offspring, with no gametes joining. The offspring inherit the full set of their parent's genes. It is the main way that single-celled organisms such as bacteria reproduce.
binary fissionThe way a cell with no nucleus divides in two. Bacteria and archaea divide like this. It is also how they reproduce: one parent becomes two daughter organisms.
buddingA new organism growing as a bump on its parent. Yeast and hydra reproduce this way. Cells divide again and again at one spot, and in hydra the grown bud breaks away to live alone.
chromosome numberHow many chromosomes each cell of a species has. A cell with two sets is diploid, and a cell with one set is haploid. A fruit fly has four pairs of chromosomes, a rice plant 12 pairs and a dog 39 pairs.
cloneAn offspring that is a genetic copy of its parent. Asexual reproduction makes clones. A plant that grows from a bulb or a tuber is a clone of the plant that formed it.
differentiationA new cell's change into one special type of cell. A fertilized egg has to divide to make a body of many cells, and the cells have to differentiate so that each kind can do its own job.
embryoA young organism still forming from a fertilized egg. It begins as one cell. Round after round of mitosis builds up the many cells of its body.
G0 phaseA non-dividing state outside the cell cycle. Most adult nerve cells stay in it for good. Some other cells can leave it and start dividing again.
meiosisTwo divisions in a row that end in four gametes. A gamete is an egg or sperm cell. Meiosis is Greek for lessening: each of the four cells has half the chromosomes of the cell that began.
meristemPlant tissue where cells keep on dividing. The main ones are near the tips of the shoots and the roots, and they make new cells all through the life of the plant.
regenerationReplacing missing tissue with newly grown tissue. Salamanders and newts may be the best at it among animals with backbones: they can regrow legs, tails, jaws and eyes.
somatic cellA body cell that plays no part in reproduction. Skin, bone, blood and the inner organs are all built of somatic cells. They divide by mitosis.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-14. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against articles of the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Mitosis, Chromosome, Chromatid, Sister chromatids, Centromere, Centrosome, Spindle apparatus, Prophase, Prometaphase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Cell cycle, Interphase, G1 phase, S phase, G2 phase, G0 phase, Cell cycle checkpoint, Cyclin, Kinetochore, Cleavage furrow, Cell plate, Nuclear envelope, Meiosis, Somatic cell, Asexual reproduction, Budding and Regeneration (biology). Mitosis, meiosis, chromosome, chromatid, centromere, centrosome, the cell cycle and its stages, somatic cells, diploid, haploid and gamete were also checked against the Talking Glossary of Genomic and Genetic Terms of the National Human Genome Research Institute (https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary), which gives the chromosome pairs of the fruit fly, the rice plant and the dog. Cell division, cytokinesis, telophase, interphase and the parent cell were checked against Cell Function in the SEER Training Modules of the National Cancer Institute (https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/cells_tissues_membranes/cells/function.html), and the two types of cell division against How do cells divide? of MedlinePlus Genetics (https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/howgeneswork/cellsdivide/). Why cells divide, daughter cells, the parent cell, the human count of 46 chromosomes, meristems, differentiation, the embryo and the fertilized egg were checked against BBC Bitesize guides (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/): Mitosis, Meiosis, Stem cells, Chromosomes and DNA, Mitosis and the cell cycle and Cell differentiation. Cell division, cytokinesis, telophase, daughter cell, binary fission, checkpoint, cyclin, kinetochore, cleavage furrow, meristem and chromosome number also rest on their entries in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/). The fact after each meaning is from the same pages. The cell cycle times of 9 to 10 hours and more than 200 hours are from the article Cell cycle. Licence: own work
How it works
This cell division vocabulary worksheet lists mitosis, cytokinesis, chromosome, chromatid, centromere, spindle, daughter cell and the four stages of mitosis beside their meanings in mixed order, with the key behind it.
Read the full guide
Cell cycle and dividing cells
The second list in Set has cell cycle, interphase, G1 phase, S phase, G2 phase, checkpoint, cyclin, parent cell, kinetochore, cleavage furrow, metaphase plate and nuclear envelope.
Division in living things
The third has binary fission, meristem, meiosis, somatic cell, asexual reproduction, budding, regeneration, chromosome number, differentiation, clone, G0 phase and embryo.
Diploid, haploid, gamete, zygote and cell plate are words in the Cell Division list of the cell word search, not terms here.
Questions and answers
Why do cells divide?
For three jobs: growth, replacing worn-out cells and repairing damaged tissue. Skin is one example: its cells are shed all the time, and the new cells are exact copies of the ones they replace.
What is the difference between a chromosome and a chromatid?
A chromatid is one of the two identical copies that make up a chromosome once its DNA has been duplicated. The copies stay joined at the centromere until anaphase. After they separate, each one is called a chromosome.
How many chromosomes are in a human cell?
A human body cell has 46, in 23 pairs. Egg and sperm cells have 23, one of each pair, so the cell they form together has 46 again.
How long does the cell cycle take?
It depends on the kind of cell. The fastest mammal cells grown in the lab, from the lining of the intestine, go around in 9 to 10 hours. Stem cells in resting mouse skin can take more than 200.
How do I get the cell division vocabulary worksheet as a PDF?
No file is stored here to download. Print worksheet opens your browser's print window: set the printer there to Save as PDF, and the saved file is the sheet followed by its key.