Geography Crossword Puzzle to Print or Solve

Press New puzzle for a geography vocabulary crossword on landforms, map skills or places of the world.

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Geography 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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Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 9 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

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Answer key: Geography Crossword

1D2PU3ELNS4CAPET5D6OT7GUL8F9MESAEAJLSA10LRO11TRIBUTARYRASGDOO12TUNDRA

Across 4 CAPE · 7 GULF · 9 MESA · 11 TRIBUTARY · 12 TUNDRA

Down 1 DUNE · 2 PLATEAU · 3 ESTUARY · 5 DELTA · 6 OASIS · 8 FJORD · 10 LAGOON

Next step Find geography words in a word searchScramble your own list of geography words

All 60 clues

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Landforms and Water 20

  • Archipelago Group or chain of islands
  • Atoll Ring-shaped coral island
  • Bay Water partly ringed by land, with a wide opening
  • Butte Flat-topped hill whose top is narrower than it is tall
  • Cape Point of land that sticks out into the sea
  • Delta Fan of land where a river drops mud at its mouth
  • Dune Hill of sand piled up by the wind
  • Estuary Wide river mouth where fresh water meets the tide
  • Fjord Long, narrow sea inlet between steep cliffs, carved by ice
  • Gulf Large arm of the sea partly enclosed by land, such as the one off Mexico
  • Isthmus Narrow strip of land joining two larger lands
  • Lagoon Shallow water cut off from the sea by a reef or sandbar
  • Mesa Flat-topped hill whose top is wider than it is tall
  • Oasis Green spot in a desert where there is water
  • Peninsula Land with water on three sides
  • Plateau High, flat land that rises steeply above the land around it
  • Savanna Grassland with scattered trees
  • Strait Narrow channel joining two large bodies of water
  • Tributary Smaller river that flows into a larger one
  • Tundra Cold, treeless plain of the far north

Map Skills 20

  • Atlas Book of maps
  • Cardinal ___ directions: north, south, east and west
  • Cartographer Person who makes maps
  • Compass Tool with a needle that points north
  • Contour ___ lines join points of the same height on a map
  • Elevation Height above sea level
  • Equator Imaginary line around the middle of Earth, halfway between the poles
  • Greenwich Part of London where east meets west at 0 degrees on the map
  • Grid Pattern of crossing lines used to find places, as in B4
  • Hemisphere Half of Earth, such as the northern one
  • Inset Small map inside a bigger one, such as Hawaii in a corner
  • Latitude Distance north or south of the middle line, in degrees
  • Legend Box on a map that explains its symbols
  • Longitude Distance east or west in degrees; its lines run pole to pole
  • Meridian Imaginary line from the North Pole to the South Pole
  • Physical Kind of map that shows mountains, rivers and deserts
  • Political Kind of map that shows countries and their capitals
  • Relief Kind of map that shows hills and valleys by shading
  • Scale Bar on a map that shows how far an inch stands for
  • Tropic ___ of Cancer, a line about 23 degrees north

Places of the World 20

  • Africa Second-largest continent
  • Amazon River that carries the most water in the world
  • Andes Longest continental mountain range, along a continent's western edge
  • Antarctica Ice-covered continent at the South Pole
  • Arctic Smallest and shallowest ocean
  • Asia Largest continent by area and by people
  • Atlantic Second-largest ocean
  • Australia Smallest continent, which is also a country
  • Canberra Capital city chosen as a middle ground between Melbourne and Sydney
  • Europe Continent of France, Italy and Poland
  • Everest Highest mountain above sea level
  • Himalayas Mountain range of Nepal and Tibet with the highest peaks on Earth
  • Indian Third-largest ocean
  • North America Continent of Canada, Mexico and the United States
  • Ottawa Capital of Canada
  • Pacific Largest ocean
  • Sahara The world's biggest hot desert
  • South America Continent of Brazil, Peru and Chile
  • Southern Ocean of the far south that National Geographic recognized in 2021
  • Tokyo Capital of Japan

How this list was compiled: 60 clues written for this site in three sets: landforms and water, map skills, and places of the world. Place facts and records were checked against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) in September 2026. Disputed records, such as the longest river, are left out. No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

This geography crossword has three sets: landforms and water, map skills, and places of the world. It is a vocabulary crossword, and disputed records such as the longest river are left out.

Read the full guide

Three sets

Landforms and Water has Isthmus, Mesa, Butte and Estuary. Map Skills has Latitude, Contour, Inset and Greenwich. Places of the World has the seven continents, the five oceans, Everest, the Sahara and three capitals.

Print or solve

Print gives Letter or A4 with the answer key last. To solve on screen, tap a square and type.

  • Hand out an atlas with Places of the World and let students look up each answer instead of guessing.

Questions and answers

What grades is the geography crossword puzzle for?

Landforms and Water and Places of the World suit grades 3 to 6. Map Skills suits grades 4 to 8. These bands are our judgement, not a published standard.

How many oceans do the clues count?

Five: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic, largest to smallest. The Southern clue says National Geographic recognized it in 2021, since older maps show four.

Is there an answer key?

Yes. Every print ends with the answer key on a sheet of its own, and Show all clues and answers, under the puzzle, lists all 60 clues with their answers.

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