Integumentary System Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on the integumentary system: the layers of the skin, hair, nails, glands and touch.

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Integumentary System Crossword

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Answer key: Integumentary System Crossword

1K2ERATINP3FOLLICLE4OADRT5FRECKLEGRA6MELANIN7TI8GOOSEBUMP9SUW10CLAW11POREHAT

Across 1 KERATIN · 3 FOLLICLE · 5 FRECKLE · 6 MELANIN · 8 GOOSEBUMPS · 10 CLAW · 11 PORE

Down 2 EPIDERMIS · 3 FAT · 4 ORGAN · 7 TOUCH · 9 SWEAT

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All 123 clues

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Layers and Cells of the Skin 32

  • Adipose ___ tissue: the science name for the body's heat-saving padding
  • Basal ___ layer: the innermost part of the outer layer, where cells continually divide
  • Basement ___ membrane: the sheet that separates the outer layer from the middle one
  • Collagen Tough, insoluble protein that holds the middle layer together
  • Corneum Stratum ___: the surface layer, 10 to 30 thin sheets of dead cells
  • Dermis Thickest of the three layers, about 90 percent of the skin's thickness
  • Elastin Protein that lets skin spring back into place when stretched
  • Epidermis Top one of the skin's three layers, a shield against the environment
  • Eyelid Fold over the eye, where the outer layer is only .05 mm thick
  • Fat Tissue of the bottom layer that helps the body keep its heat
  • Fibroblast Cell that makes the protein holding the middle layer together
  • Freckle Small spot of concentrated coloring, easiest to see on a fair complexion
  • Glabrous Word for skin that is hairless
  • Granulosum Stratum ___: the thin grainy layer of the outer skin
  • Keratin Protein, made by cells of the top layer, that strengthens the skin
  • Keratinocyte Maturing cell of the outer layer that makes a tough, protective protein
  • Langerhans ___ cell: one that alerts the immune system to invaders of damaged skin
  • Lucidum Stratum ___: extra layer found where the skin is thicker
  • Melanin Substance that gives skin its brown color and helps guard it from sun
  • Melanocyte Color-making cell in the bottom of the outer layer
  • Merkel ___ cell: a tactile cell in the innermost part of the outer layer
  • Organ What the skin is: the body's largest one
  • Palm Inner surface of the hand, where the outer layer is 1.5 mm thick
  • Papillary Word for the upper part of the middle layer, with a thin arrangement of fibers
  • Reticular Word for the lower, thicker and denser part of the middle layer
  • Shed Cast off, as the surface of the skin does with dead cells
  • Six About this many pounds of skin cover an average adult
  • Spiny ___ layer: English name of the sublayer whose cells are held together by projections
  • Squamous Word for the maturing cells that have been pushed up from the innermost ones
  • Subcutis Lowermost layer, also called the hypodermis
  • Suntan Deeper skin color produced by exposure to the sun's rays
  • Turnover Complete replacement of surface cells, every 28 to 30 days in young adults

Hair and Nails 24

  • Arrector ___ pili: small muscle whose pull makes a hair stand on end
  • Bed Nail ___: the skin that lies below the hard part
  • Bulb Second name for the pulled-out, under-the-skin end of a hair
  • Cortex Part of a hair fiber, under the shingle-like cells, that holds bundles of protein
  • Crescent Shape of the whitish area of a fingernail, like a sliver of moon
  • Cuticle Outside of a hair: flat, thin cells overlapping like roof shingles
  • Digits Fingers and toes, at whose tips nails are found
  • Eyebrow Area of short hairs above each eye
  • Eyelash One of the hairs that grow at the edges of the lids of the eye
  • Filament A hair is one, made of protein and growing out of the middle layer
  • Follicle Tube-shaped sheath around the part of a hair that lies under the skin
  • Goose bumps Small lumps at the base of body hairs when you are cold or afraid
  • Lanugo Very thin, soft hair, the first that the body produces before birth
  • Lunula Whitish half-moon area of a fingernail
  • Matrix Active tissue at the base of a nail, from which it grows
  • Medulla Disorganized, open area at the center of a hair fiber
  • Plate Nail ___: the hard part of a nail that you can see
  • Primates Animal group, people included, in which almost all members have nails
  • Root Name for the under-the-skin part of a hair once it has been pulled out
  • Scalp Skin of the top of the head, crowded with grease glands
  • Shaft The hard part of a hair that extends above the skin surface
  • Terminal ___ hair: the thick, long kind, such as grows on the top of the head
  • Toenail It grows about half as fast as a fingernail
  • Vellus ___ hair: strands usually less than 2 cm long, known as peach fuzz

Glands, Sweat and Temperature 23

  • Apocrine Word for the glands of the armpits, which release a milky fluid
  • Armpit Underarm, one of the only places with glands that release a milky fluid
  • Cerumen Medical name for the wax of the ear canal
  • Constrict Narrow, as blood vessels in the skin do to conserve body heat
  • Eccrine Word for the glands, found over the entire body, that regulate its temperature
  • Evaporate Turn from liquid to vapor, as moisture on the skin does, lowering its temperature
  • Exocrine Word for a gland such as the grease gland, which opens into a hair's sheath
  • Expansion Widening of blood vessels in hot skin, which lets body heat out
  • Fungi With bacteria, the growths that the skin's grease protects against
  • Insulate Hold warmth in, as the bottom layer of the skin does
  • Mammary ___ gland: the milk-producing gland for which a whole class of animals is named
  • Million Three ___: about how many moisture-releasing glands the average person has
  • Odor Body ___: smell caused by bacteria that grow on the milky fluid of certain glands
  • Oil Greasy liquid that keeps skin smooth and bendable
  • Perspiration Formal word for the fluid that glands in the skin of furry animals secrete
  • Pore Skin opening through which glands bring moisture to the surface
  • Sebaceous Word for the grease glands attached to the sheaths of hairs
  • Sebum Oily or waxy matter that lubricates hair and skin
  • Shiver Tremble; this muscle action is triggered to generate body heat
  • Sudoriferous Long word for the glands that release the skin's moisture, also called sudoriparous
  • Sweat Fluid, mostly H2O, that lowers skin temperature as it dries
  • Tubular Shaped like a small pipe, as the skin's moisture-releasing glands are
  • Waterproof Able to keep rain out, as a tough protein and the skin's grease make it

Touch, Protection and Repair 24

  • Balance Water ___: something that the skin's body system maintains
  • Barrier What the skin forms between the body's inside and the outside world
  • Blister Bubble of lymph or other fluid raised by forceful rubbing
  • Callus Patch of thickened skin formed by repeated rubbing
  • Excrete Get rid of waste, one of the jobs of the skin and its glands
  • Fingerprint Impression left by the raised lines of a fingertip
  • Friction Rubbing; repeated, it thickens and sometimes hardens the skin
  • Heal Mend, as badly damaged skin tries to do
  • Itch Feeling that nerve endings report to the brain; a scratch answers it
  • Meissner Anatomist (1829 to 1905) whose name is on the corpuscles of light contact
  • Nutrients With oxygen, what the vessels of the middle layer bring to the skin
  • Pacinian ___ corpuscle: a sensor that responds to deep pressure, stretch and vibration
  • Pain Hurt; nerve endings in the middle layer send it on to the brain
  • Pig Farm animal whose skin is very similar to human skin
  • Receptors Sensory ___: structures of the middle layer that let the body feel the outside world
  • Regulation Control, as of heat: one of the three main functions of skin
  • Ridges Raised lines of a fingertip that leave a print
  • Scar Tissue that forms where badly damaged skin has mended
  • Strength What certain cells of the middle layer give the skin, with support and flexibility
  • Thousand About one ___ species of bacteria have been found on human skin
  • Touch Sense served by cells of the top layer and nerve endings beneath it
  • Ultraviolet Damaging kind of ray that makes color cells increase their output
  • Vitamin ___ D: it is produced in the skin and carried off by the blood
  • Wrinkle Fold or crease in a surface that was once smooth

Animal Coverings and Word Origins 20

  • Arthropod Insect or crab, for one, whose hard covering has a different origin from skin
  • Blubber Thick tissue under the skin of all cetaceans and sirenians
  • Claw What a cat or a bird has where a person has a nail
  • Clear See-through; the meaning of the Latin name of thick skin's extra layer
  • Cloak Figurative sense of the Latin integumentum, besides a disguise
  • Cutaneous Adjective meaning "of the skin"
  • Dermatology Medical specialty that deals with the skin
  • Exoskeleton Hardened covering of a beetle or a lobster, worn on the outside
  • Feathers A bird's covering, made of the same tough protein family as hair
  • Fur What a mink or a fox wears: hair growing soft and thick over the skin
  • Hide Skin of a large animal such as a cow
  • Hoof Tip of a toe, strengthened with a thick covering, on a horse or a deer
  • Horn Permanent pointed projection on an animal's head, with a tough protein covering
  • Husk Dry wrap of a grain; like skin, it is a covering tissue
  • Integument Formal word for the skin, from the Latin for a covering
  • Molt Cast off an old covering, as a snake does with its skin
  • Rind Tough wrap of a fruit; like skin, it is a covering tissue
  • Scales Covering of a fish or a reptile, counted with skin, hair and nails as one body system
  • Ungulate Animal such as a horse or a deer, whose toes end in hard caps
  • Whiskers Specialized sensory hairs that help most furry animals sense what is around them

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 6 to 12, in six sets. Facts were checked against the Layers of the Skin page of the SEER Training Modules (U.S. National Cancer Institute), MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) and English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026. Clues say what a word names; nothing here is advice about skin care or health. Licence: own work

How it works

This printable integumentary system crossword puzzle fits Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 basic words, among them Epidermis, Follicle, Keratin, Melanin, Sweat and Pore. Skin, hair and nail stay in the clues, never as answers.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the basics

Layers and Cells of the Skin has Basal, Corneum, Keratinocyte and Melanocyte. Hair and Nails has Shaft, Cuticle, Lunula and Arrector. Glands, Sweat and Temperature has Eccrine, Apocrine, Sebaceous and Sebum. Touch, Protection and Repair has Meissner, Pacinian, Blister and Ultraviolet. Animal Coverings and Word Origins has Scales, Feathers, Exoskeleton and Integument.

Figures a class can check

Number clues come from the sources: Six for the pounds of skin on an average adult, Million for the three million sweat glands, Thousand for the species of bacteria found on human skin, and Turnover for the 28 to 30 days in which a young adult's surface cells are replaced.

  • Print Layers and Cells of the Skin beside a labeled cross-section of the skin, and Hair and Nails the day after its lesson.

Questions and answers

What grade is the integumentary system crossword puzzle for?

Integumentary System Basics suits grades 6 to 8, with answers such as Sweat, Pore, Freckle and Callus. The five themed sets use high school anatomy vocabulary, such as Keratinocyte and Sebaceous. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Does the integumentary system crossword puzzle have an answer key?

Yes. The answer key is the last sheet of each print, with the solved grid and a numbered list of answers. There is no charge and no sign-up.

What are the three layers of the skin?

The epidermis on top, the dermis in the middle and the hypodermis, or subcutis, at the bottom. Epidermis is in the first puzzle; Dermis and Subcutis are in Layers and Cells of the Skin.

What does the integumentary system include?

The skin with its hair, nails and glands; in other animals, scales, feathers, hooves and claws as well. It protects the body, helps regulate its temperature and holds the receptors for pressure, pain and temperature.

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