Chemistry Word Search Puzzle With Clues and an Answer Key

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Chemistry Word Search

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0 of 16 words found

MDRAMISOTOPERAA

PRODUCTECCEDRRI

SRFORMULACIDGKO

TOTCJIEETPROTON

RAGUOXQMANMHINR

USUNSTUELIAALED

WMPNNUANYUGSMUE

NGJLORTTSMJTATN

SLFCNEIETOZBTRN

LLIAAAOBVLEEOOW

UDMRBCNLBEHNMNO

ZOEBBTLPTCEUHED

CNTOUAERVUEFTNH

DYANRNSCDLEEURT

DELECTRONEEAKNI

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

AtomATOM
ProtonPROTON
NeutronNEUTRON
ElectronELECTRON
IsotopeISOTOPE
CarbonCARBON
ElementELEMENT
MoleculeMOLECULE
FormulaFORMULA
ReactantREACTANT
ProductPRODUCT
EquationEQUATION
CatalystCATALYST
MixtureMIXTURE
MetalMETAL
AcidACID

16 of 24 words from the Chemistry Key Terms list.

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Answer key: Chemistry Word Search

MDRAMISOTOPERAA

PRODUCTECCEDRRI

SRFORMULACIDGKO

TOTCJIEETPROTON

RAGUOXQMANMHINR

USUNSTUELIAALED

WMPNNUANYUGSMUE

NGJLORTTSMJTATN

SLFCNEIETOZBTRN

LLIAAAOBVLEEOOW

UDMRBCNLBEHNMNO

ZOEBBTLPTCEUHED

CNTOUAERVUEFTNH

DYANRNSCDLEEURT

DELECTRONEEAKNI

ATOM, PROTON, NEUTRON, ELECTRON, ISOTOPE, CARBON, ELEMENT, MOLECULE, FORMULA, REACTANT, PRODUCT, EQUATION, CATALYST, MIXTURE, METAL, ACID

Next step Build a puzzle from your own chemistry notes Scramble the same chemistry words

All 133 words

Atoms and Atomic Structure 23

Atom The smallest piece of an element that still behaves like that element.
Bohr The Danish physicist, Niels, who in 1913 pictured electrons circling the nucleus on fixed paths.
Chadwick The English physicist, James, who discovered the neutron in 1932.
Charge The property that is positive on a proton and negative on an electron.
Dalton The English chemist, John, whose 1808 book argued that each element has its own kind of atom.
Electron A tiny negatively charged particle that moves around the nucleus.
Gold foil The thin metal sheet in a famous test of the atom. Most alpha particles flew straight through it.
Ion An atom that has gained or lost electrons, so it carries an electric charge.
Isotope A version of an element with a different number of neutrons. Carbon-14 is one.
Mass number Protons plus neutrons in one nucleus: 12 for the most common kind of carbon.
Model A picture or idea that explains something too small to see. The atom has had several.
Negative The kind of charge an electron carries.
Neutral Having no overall charge, as an atom does when its protons and electrons are equal in number.

Show all 133 words (120 more)

Atoms and Atomic Structure, continued

Neutron A particle with no charge that sits in the nucleus beside the protons.
Nucleus The dense center of an atom, which holds nearly all of its mass.
Orbital A region around the nucleus in which an electron most probably is.
Positive The kind of charge a proton carries.
Proton A positively charged particle in the nucleus. Their count decides which element it is.
Quark A still smaller particle. Three of them make up each proton and each neutron.
Rutherford The New Zealand physicist, Ernest, who worked out that an atom has a tiny, dense nucleus.
Shell One of the layers around the nucleus where electrons sit. The first holds up to 2.
Thomson The English physicist, J. J., who showed in 1897 that atoms contain tiny negative electrons.
Valence Describes the outermost electrons, the ones that take part in bonding.

First 20 Elements 20

Aluminum Element 13, symbol Al: the most abundant metal in Earth's crust, rolled into foil and cans.
Argon Element 18, symbol Ar: a noble gas, almost 1 percent of air. The name is Greek for lazy.
Beryllium Element 4, symbol Be: a light metal found in the gemstones emerald and aquamarine.
Boron Element 5, symbol B: a metalloid found in the mineral borax.
Calcium Element 20, symbol Ca: the metal in bones, teeth, chalk and limestone.
Carbon Element 6, symbol C. Diamond and graphite are both made of nothing else.
Chlorine Element 17, symbol Cl: a yellow-green gas whose compounds keep swimming pools clean.
Fluorine Element 9, symbol F: a pale yellow, very reactive gas. Its compounds in toothpaste protect teeth.
Helium Element 2, symbol He: a noble gas lighter than air, used to lift balloons and airships.
Hydrogen Element 1, symbol H: the lightest element and the most abundant one in the universe.
Lithium Element 3, symbol Li: the least dense metal, used in rechargeable batteries.
Magnesium Element 12, symbol Mg: a light metal that burns with a brilliant white light.
Neon Element 10, symbol Ne: a noble gas that glows reddish orange in lighted signs.
Nitrogen Element 7, symbol N: the gas that makes up about 78 percent of the air.
Oxygen Element 8, symbol O: the gas we need to breathe, about 21 percent of the air.
Phosphorus Element 15, symbol P. The name is Greek for light-bearer, and the red form is used in matches.
Potassium Element 19, symbol K from the Latin kalium: a soft metal that reacts fast with water.
Silicon Element 14, symbol Si: found in sand and quartz, and the base of computer chips.
Sodium Element 11, symbol Na from the Latin natrium: a metal soft enough to cut with a knife.
Sulfur Element 16, symbol S: a yellow nonmetal found around volcanoes.

Periodic Table 21

Actinide One of the metals that start at element 89, shown in the bottom strip. All are radioactive.
Alkali metal An element of group 1, such as lithium, sodium or potassium. All of them react with water.
Atomic mass The average weight of an element's atoms, printed on its tile, usually as a decimal.
Atomic number The count of protons in one atom of an element. It fixes the element's place in the table.
Element A pure substance made of only one kind of atom. 118 are known.
Groups The 18 numbered columns of the periodic table. Elements in one column behave alike.
Halogen An element of group 17, such as fluorine or chlorine. The name means salt former.
Inert Not reacting with other substances, as helium and neon almost never do.
Lanthanide One of the 15 metals numbered 57 to 71, usually shown in a separate strip under the table.
Luster The shine of a freshly polished metal surface.
Mendeleev The Russian chemist, Dmitri, who presented his table of the elements in 1869.
Metalloid An element such as boron or silicon, part way between a metal and a nonmetal.
Noble gas An element of group 18, such as helium, neon or argon, that almost never reacts.
Nonmetal An element such as carbon, sulfur or oxygen that conducts heat and electricity poorly.
Periodic table The chart of all 118 known elements, set out in order of atomic number.
Periods The 7 horizontal rows of the chemists' chart of the elements.
Radioactive Having an unstable nucleus that gives off radiation as it breaks down.
Reactive Quick to take part in chemical changes, as sodium and fluorine are.
Row A horizontal line of tiles in the table. Atomic number goes up by 1 with each step to the right.
Symbol The one or two letter code for an element, such as O for oxygen or Na for sodium.
Tile One box of the periodic table, showing an element's symbol, name and numbers.

Compounds and Bonding 22

Ammonia NH3, a sharp-smelling gas of nitrogen and hydrogen used to make fertilizer.
Anion An ion with a negative charge, formed when an atom gains electrons.
Bond The force that holds atoms together in a molecule or a crystal.
Cation An ion with a positive charge, formed when an atom loses electrons.
Compound A substance made of two or more elements chemically joined in a fixed ratio.
Covalent The kind of bond formed when atoms share pairs of electrons, as in water.
Crystal A solid whose particles are packed in a regular repeating pattern, like salt or sugar.
Diatomic Made of two atoms. Hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen gas all travel in pairs like this.
Formula Symbols and small numbers that show what a compound is made of, such as H2O or CO2.
Glucose C6H12O6, a simple sugar that plants make during photosynthesis.
Ionic The kind of bond formed when one atom hands electrons to another, as in table salt.
Metallic The kind of bonding in which a sea of loose electrons holds the atoms of copper or iron together.
Methane CH4, the main part of natural gas: one carbon atom joined to four hydrogen atoms.
Molecule Two or more atoms joined by chemical bonds. One of water has 3 atoms.
Octet A full set of 8 outer electrons, which many atoms reach by bonding.
Oxide A compound of oxygen with one other element. Rust and sand are both examples.
Ozone O3, a molecule of three oxygen atoms. High in the atmosphere it absorbs ultraviolet light.
Polar Describes a molecule, like water, with a slightly positive end and a slightly negative end.
Polymer A very long molecule built from many small repeating units. Plastics and starch are examples.
Salt Sodium chloride, NaCl, on the dinner table. To a chemist, any compound built from ions.
Subscript The small lowered number in a formula. The 2 in H2O means two hydrogen atoms.
Water H2O: two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom.

Chemical Reactions 23

Balanced Describes an equation with the same number of each kind of atom on both sides.
Bubbles A sign that a gas is being made, as when vinegar meets baking soda.
Catalyst A substance that speeds up a chemical change without being used up itself.
Coefficient The full-size number written in front of a formula to balance an equation.
Combustion Burning: a fuel combines with oxygen and gives off heat and light.
Corrosion The slow eating away of a metal by chemical change.
Decomposition A chemical change in which one compound breaks down into simpler substances.
Endothermic Taking in heat, so the surroundings feel colder, as an instant cold pack does.
Equation A line of formulas showing what goes into a chemical change and what comes out.
Exothermic Giving off heat, as burning does.
Fireworks Displays whose colors come from metal salts heated until they glow.
Fizz To give off streams of small gas bubbles with a hissing sound.
Flame The hot, glowing gas seen where something burns.
Lavoisier The French chemist, Antoine, who named oxygen in 1778 and explained its part in burning.
Oxidation A chemical change in which a substance combines with oxygen or loses electrons.
Precipitate A solid that forms and settles out when two clear liquids are mixed.
Product A new substance formed by a chemical change, written on the right of the arrow.
Rate How fast a chemical change goes. Heat, stirring and smaller pieces all raise it.
Reactant A starting substance in a chemical change, written on the left of the arrow.
Reaction A change in which substances turn into new substances with different properties.
Rust The flaky reddish-brown iron oxide that forms when iron meets water and oxygen.
Synthesis A chemical change in which two or more substances join to make one new compound.
Yield The amount of product that a chemical change actually makes.

Solutions, Acids and Bases 24

Acid A substance with a pH below 7, which turns blue litmus paper red. Lemon juice is a weak one.
Alkali Sodium hydroxide is one: a base that water can dissolve.
Alloy A mixture of a metal with other elements. Steel, brass and bronze are examples.
Base A substance with a pH above 7, which turns red litmus paper blue. Baking soda is a mild one.
Chromatography Separating the colors in ink by letting a liquid carry them up a strip of paper.
Colloid A mixture such as milk whose tiny particles stay spread out and never settle.
Dilute Containing only a little solute for the amount of solvent. Also, to add more solvent.
Dissolve To spread out evenly through a liquid until no pieces can be seen.
Distillation Separating liquids by boiling the mixture and cooling the vapor back into a liquid.
Filtration Separating a solid from a liquid by pouring the mixture through paper or mesh.
Hydroxide The OH ion, one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, found in many bases.
Insoluble Unable to dissolve in a given liquid, as sand is in water.
Litmus A dye taken from lichens that turns red in an acid and blue in a base.
Metal A shiny material that conducts heat and electricity and can be hammered into shape.
Mixture Two or more substances blended but not chemically joined, so they can be separated again.
Neutralize To mix an acid with a base so that they cancel out, leaving a salt and water.
pH scale The number line, usually 0 to 14, for how acidic or basic a liquid is. Pure water sits at 7.
Saturated Holding as much dissolved solute as it can at that temperature.
Separate To pull a mixture back apart, by filtering, boiling off the liquid or picking pieces out.
Solute The substance that gets dissolved, such as the sugar in sweet tea.
Solution A mixture in which one substance is spread evenly through another, like salt in water.
Solvent The substance that does the dissolving. Water is the most common one.
Suspension A mixture whose particles are big enough to settle out, such as muddy water.
Titration Adding one solution to another drop by drop to find out how concentrated it is.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. The facts in the clues were checked on 2026-09-19 against Wikipedia, among them the articles on the periodic table (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table), atoms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom) and the pH scale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH). Spellings follow those articles, apart from the American spelling Aluminum. Some clues were reworded on 2026-09-20, and any fact that changed was checked against Wikipedia the same day. Licence: own work

How it works

This chemistry word search puzzle opens on 16 of 24 key terms, Proton, Molecule and Catalyst among them. Eight more lists, from the first 20 elements to acids and bases, bring the total to 133 words.

Read the full guide

Six lists, from the atom to acids and bases

The Start from a list row, under the puzzle, tracks the course: Atoms and Atomic Structure (23 words), First 20 Elements (20), Periodic Table (21), Compounds and Bonding (22), Chemical Reactions (23) and Solutions, Acids and Bases (24). For an atoms and atomic structure word search puzzle, take the first list, where Proton and Isotope sit beside Rutherford and Gold foil.

Chemistry word search PDF, or an element word find PDF

Print or save as PDF opens the print window; pick Save as PDF there to keep the file. It has 2 pages for Letter or A4, puzzle then answer key. For an element word search PDF, pick First 20 Elements and press Add another until all 20 are listed: Hydrogen to Calcium all land in one grid.

Easy Chemistry has 28 words of 3 to 5 letters, Ion and Fizz included. Hard Chemistry has 35 long ones.
Periodic table, Noble gas, pH scale and 5 more entries are hidden as one run: PERIODICTABLE.
Chromatography needs 14 squares, so keep Hard Chemistry on a grid of 15 by 15 or more.

Questions and answers

Is this chemistry word search printable free?

Yes, with no sign-up. Every New puzzle builds a new grid with a key of its own, so that key fits puzzles made here, not a worksheet handed out in class.

Does it suit a high school chemistry class?

Yes. Choose Hard Chemistry and press Hard; the grid grows when a word needs room. Decomposition, Endothermic and the rest can then lie in any of 8 directions, backwards included.

How many elements are on the periodic table?

There are 118, set out in 7 periods and 18 groups, and Mendeleev presented his table in 1869. All four facts are clues in the Periodic Table list. Tick Show clues, not words, in More options to print them.

All 133 words

Atoms and Atomic Structure 23

Atoms and Atomic Structure, continued

First 20 Elements 20

Periodic Table 21

Compounds and Bonding 22

Chemical Reactions 23

Solutions, Acids and Bases 24

How it works

Six lists, from the atom to acids and bases

Chemistry word search PDF, or an element word find PDF

Questions and answers

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