Cell Parts Crossword Printable

Print a criss-cross cell parts crossword clued by what the parts do, answer key included.

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Cell Parts Crossword

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Answer key: Cell Parts Crossword

1VACU2OLE3MREGM4CELLWALLBN5RR6NU7CLEU8S9CILIAYLMBNTLOO10CENTRIOLEOSPTO11RETICULUMHMAES12LYSOSOME

Across 1 VACUOLE · 4 CELLWALL · 6 NUCLEUS · 9 CILIA · 10 CENTRIOLE · 11 RETICULUM · 12 LYSOSOME

Down 2 ORGANELLE · 3 MEMBRANE · 5 RIBOSOME · 7 CYTOPLASM · 8 SMOOTH

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Organelles 25

  • Actin Building block of the microfilaments, thin fibers of the cell's skeleton
  • ATP Small molecule known as the energy currency of the cell
  • Centriole One of a pair of small cylinders that help organize an animal cell's division
  • Centrosome Center that organizes the microtubules of an animal cell
  • Cisternae Flattened sacs stacked like plates in the cell's packaging center
  • Cristae Inward folds of a mitochondrion that give it more working surface
  • Cytoplasm Jelly-like filling of a cell, where the organelles sit
  • Cytoskeleton Network of fibers that gives a cell its shape and helps it move
  • Cytosol The liquid part of a cell's filling, without the organelles
  • Glucose Simple sugar that a cell breaks down to release energy
  • Golgi Stack of flat sacs that packages proteins and sends them on their way
  • Lumen The space inside a sac or a tube, such as the inside of the ER
  • Lysosome Sac of digestive enzymes that breaks down damaged parts and debris
  • Matrix Innermost space of a mitochondrion, where the citric acid cycle runs
  • Microtubule Hollow tube of the cell's skeleton that serves as a track for moving cargo
  • Mitochondria Power stations that turn the energy of food into a form a cell can spend
  • Nucleus Round body that holds almost all of a cell's genetic material and directs its work
  • Organelle A cell's version of an organ: any small part with a job of its own
  • Peroxisome Small sac whose enzymes break down fatty acids and make hydrogen peroxide harmless
  • Reticulum Endoplasmic ___: maze of sacs and tubes that makes proteins and lipids and moves them along
  • Ribosome Tiny particle that builds proteins by joining amino acids in order
  • Rough Describes the ER that is studded with ribosomes and makes proteins for export
  • Smooth Describes the ER that has no ribosomes and makes lipids
  • Vacuole Fluid-filled sac that stores water, food or waste; one big one fills much of a plant cell
  • Vesicle Small bubble that carries cargo from one part of the cell to another

Plant Cell Parts 21

  • Amyloplast Colorless part of a plant cell that builds and stores grains of its reserve food
  • Cell plate Partition that grows across the middle during division in plants
  • Cellulose Tough fiber that the walls of plant cells are built from
  • Cell wall Rigid outer coat that gives support and shape; plants and fungi have one, animals do not
  • Chlorophyll Green substance that absorbs light for photosynthesis
  • Chloroplast Green part that captures sunlight to make sugar
  • Chromoplast Plant cell part that makes and stores the red, orange and yellow colors of fruits and petals
  • Grana Stacks of flat green disks, like piles of coins
  • Lamella Middle ___: the thin layer that cements two plant cells together
  • Lignin Substance that makes the walls of wood cells stiff
  • Pectin Jelly-like substance in the layer that glues neighboring plant cells together
  • Pigment Colored substance, such as the green one in leaves, that absorbs light
  • Plasmodesma Tiny tunnel through the walls that links one plant cell to the next
  • Plastid Family of plant organelles that make food or store it
  • Sap Cell ___: the watery liquid stored in the big central sac of a plant cell
  • Starch Form in which a plant cell stores extra sugar
  • Stomata Leaf openings, each bordered by a pair of cells, that let gases in and out
  • Stroma Fluid around the green stacks, where carbon dioxide is built into sugar
  • Thylakoid Flat green disk where the light reactions of photosynthesis happen
  • Tonoplast Thin skin around a plant cell's big central storage sac
  • Turgor Water pressure that keeps a plant cell firm

Membrane and Surface 18

  • Bilayer Double sheet of fatty molecules, tails inward, that forms a cell's boundary
  • Capsule Outer coat of sugars that shields some bacteria from drying out
  • Channel Tunnel-shaped molecule that lets ions cross the cell's boundary
  • Cholesterol Molecule tucked among the fatty tails that keeps an animal cell's boundary properly fluid
  • Cilia Short hairs that beat to move a cell or to sweep fluid past it
  • Diffusion Drift of particles from a crowded place to an emptier one
  • Endocytosis Taking material in by folding the cell's boundary around it
  • Exocytosis Sending material out when a carrier bubble joins the cell's boundary
  • Flagellum Whip-like tail that lashes to push a cell through water
  • Lipid Fat, oil or wax; a double layer of one kind forms the boundary of a cell
  • Membrane Thin skin around a cell that decides what may pass in or out
  • Microvilli Tiny finger-like folds that give a cell of the small intestine more surface for absorbing
  • Osmosis Movement of water across a boundary that lets water through but not everything else
  • Phospholipid Molecule with a head that likes water and two tails that avoid it
  • Pili Hair-like fibers that help bacteria stick to a surface
  • Pseudopod "False foot" that some cells push out to crawl and to feed
  • Pump Molecular machine that spends energy to push ions across the boundary
  • Receptor Molecule on a cell's surface that receives a chemical signal

Nucleus and DNA 20

  • Centromere Narrow waist that holds two sister strands together
  • Chromatid One of the two identical strands made when genetic material is copied before division
  • Chromatin Loose tangle of genetic threads that fills a cell's control center between divisions
  • Chromosome Long, tightly packed thread of genetic material and its proteins
  • Codon Three-letter word of the genetic code; most name one amino acid
  • DNA Molecule that stores the instructions for building a living thing
  • Envelope Nuclear ___: double layer that wraps a cell's genetic material
  • Enzyme Helper molecule that makes a reaction in a cell go faster and is not used up
  • Gene One stretch of inherited instructions, such as the recipe for a single body molecule
  • Genome The complete set of a living thing's genetic instructions
  • Helix Double ___: the shape of the two strands of the molecule of heredity as they coil around each other
  • Histone Spool-like molecule that the genetic thread winds around
  • Mitosis Division of the control center into two identical copies
  • Nucleolus Dense spot in the control center where the cell's tiny builders are first put together
  • Nucleotide One link of a genetic chain: a sugar, a phosphate and a base
  • Pore Gateway in the wrapping of the control center that lets messages out
  • Protein Chain of amino acids folded into a working shape
  • RNA Single-stranded molecule that carries copied instructions out of the control center
  • Spindle Web of fibers that pulls the copies apart when a cell divides
  • Telomere Protective cap at each end of a packed genetic thread

Special Cells and Microbes 18

  • Amoeba One-celled creature that changes shape as it crawls
  • Axon Single long fiber that sends a nerve cell's signal onward
  • Dendrite Tree-like branch where a nerve cell takes in signals
  • Euglena One-celled swimmer of quiet waters with a long whip at its front end and green food-making parts
  • Eukaryote Living thing, from a mushroom to a whale, whose cells keep their genetic material in a control center
  • Eyespot Orange-red spot that helps a one-celled swimmer sense light
  • Guard cell One of a pair that swell with water to open a leaf's breathing hole
  • Hemoglobin Molecule packed into red blood cells that picks up oxygen in the lungs and carries it to the body
  • Myelin Fatty wrapping that speeds signals along a nerve fiber
  • Neuron Cell built to pass electrical signals along to other cells
  • Nucleoid Region where a bacterium keeps its genetic material, with no wrapping around it
  • Paramecium Slipper-shaped swimmer of ponds whose whole surface is covered in beating hairs
  • Plasmid Small ring of extra genetic material in a bacterium
  • Prokaryote Living thing, such as a bacterium, whose single cell has no walled-off control center
  • Root hair Thread-like outgrowth of one surface cell, underground, that soaks up water and minerals
  • Synapse Meeting point where a signal crosses from one nerve cell to another
  • Virus Not a cell at all: a package of genetic material that must enter a living cell to multiply
  • Yeast One-celled fungus that multiplies by budding or by splitting in two

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for a middle or high school cells unit. The job of each part was checked in its English Wikipedia article (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0), and the names in Wiktionary (en.wiktionary.org), in October 2026. Mitochondria, Cilia, Cristae, Cisternae, Grana, Stomata, Microvilli and Pili are plural forms. No clue was copied from a published puzzle or a textbook. Licence: own work

How it works

This cell parts crossword printable is a vocabulary crossword for a cells unit. It opens on the parts students label on a cell diagram.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the main parts

Main Cell Parts has Nucleus, Ribosome, Mitochondria, Vacuole and Membrane. Organelles adds Peroxisome, Centrosome and Cristae. Plant Cell Parts has Cell wall, Chloroplast, Tonoplast and Plasmodesma. Membrane and Surface has Bilayer, Cilia and Microvilli. Nucleus and DNA has Chromatin, Histone and Spindle. Special Cells and Microbes has Axon, Plasmid and Eyespot.

Clues that keep the answers hidden

Nucleus and DNA are answers, so other clues call them the control center and the genetic material. Mitochondria, Cilia, Cristae and Grana are plural because each clue describes more than one.

  • Use Main Cell Parts the day after the diagram lesson: its clues ask what a part does, not where it sits.

Questions and answers

Is there a free printable cell parts crossword with an answer key?

Yes. It is free, with no sign-up. Press Print and the answer key comes out last, as a filled grid, on Letter or A4.

Does the crossword cover plant and animal cell parts?

Yes. Organelles holds the parts both kinds share, plus the centriole of animal cells. Plant Cell Parts adds the cell wall, the chloroplast and the plasmodesma, which animal cells do not have. Main Cell Parts mixes the two.

What grade is the cell parts crossword for?

Grades 6 to 10, in our judgment, which is not a published standard. Main Cell Parts fits a middle school cells unit; Thylakoid, Histone and Exocytosis come from high school biology.

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