Latin America Crossword Puzzle

Print a Latin America vocabulary crossword that covers Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, with its answer key.

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Latin America Crossword

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Answer key: Latin America Crossword

1A2MAZON3IN4CAEAX5I6PYRAMIDSEIC7AZTE8CRBOHUUBMBE9A10BUA11RAINFORESTNDAEZSIL

Across 1 AMAZON · 3 INCA · 6 PYRAMID · 7 AZTEC · 11 RAINFOREST

Down 2 MEXICO · 4 CARIBBEAN · 5 ISTHMUS · 6 PERU · 8 CUBA · 9 ANDES · 10 BRAZIL

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All 154 clues

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Mexico and Central America 41

  • Acapulco Mexican west-coast port famous for its cliff divers
  • Axolotl Mexican salamander studied for its power to regrow lost limbs
  • Baja ___ California, the long desert peninsula on the Mexican west coast
  • Belize Only Central American country where English is the official language
  • Cactus In a Mexican legend, a bird sitting on one showed where to found a city
  • Canal Man-made waterway; a famous one opened in 1914 lets ships cross Central America
  • Cancún Mexican resort city of white beaches, planned and built in the 1970s
  • Cenote Sinkhole left when limestone bedrock falls in and shows the water below
  • Chichén Itzá Ancient city whose most famous building is the Temple of Kukulcán
  • Chihuahua Tiny dog, a Mexican breed
  • Costa Rica Country whose name means rich coast
  • Dahlia Garden flower that is the Mexican national flower
  • Eagle Bird at the center of the Mexican flag, holding a snake
  • Guadalajara Capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco
  • Guatemala Most populous country of Central America
  • Hidalgo Priest whose cry of 1810 began the Mexican fight to be free of Spanish rule
  • Honduras Country whose name is Spanish for depths
  • Managua Nicaraguan capital, on the shore of a lake
  • Mariachi Mexican music of strings, song and trumpet, on a UNESCO heritage list since 2011
  • Marigold Orange flower laid on family altars for the Day of the Dead
  • Marimba Wooden bars struck with mallets; Guatemalans call it their national instrument
  • Mexico Northernmost country of Latin America, bordering the United States
  • Monarch Butterfly whose fall migration runs thousands of miles, from Canada to Mexican sites
  • Nicaragua Central American country known for its two great freshwater lakes
  • Oaxaca Southern Mexican state with sixteen officially recognized native peoples
  • Panama Central American country that became a separate nation in 1903
  • Poinsettia Red-leafed Christmas plant, native to Mexican and Central American lands
  • Popocatépetl Snowy Mexican peak that still erupts; its name means smoking mountain
  • Pyramid The ancient Americans built theirs in steps, with flat tops for temples
  • Quetzal Guatemalan national bird, and the name of the country's money
  • Salvador El ___, the smallest country of Central America
  • San José Capital of the Central American country that gave up its army in 1948
  • Sierra ___ Madre, name of the great Mexican mountain chains
  • Sombrero Mexican hat with a high crown and a very wide brim
  • Tegucigalpa Honduran capital, in a valley ringed by mountains
  • Tenochtitlan Lake city of 1325 that lies under a modern capital
  • Teotihuacan Ancient city whose later name has been read as birthplace of the gods
  • Tijuana Mexican border city just south of San Diego
  • Tikal Ancient city of the Petén lowlands, now inside a national park
  • Veracruz Mexican port whose name means true cross
  • Yucatán Mexican peninsula with sea on its west, north and east sides

The Caribbean 30

  • Antilles Greater and Lesser ___, the island chains that curve from Florida toward South America
  • Baseball Bat-and-ball game, the favorite sport on several of the islands
  • Bongos Two joined drums: the larger is called hembra and the smaller macho
  • Caribbean Sea bordered by the West Indies, Central America and the north coast of South America
  • Columbus Sailor from Genoa whose ships reached the islands in October 1492
  • Conga Tall, narrow Cuban drum played with the hands
  • Coquí Little island frog; the males' loud mating call gives it its name
  • Creole Haitian ___, a language that grew mostly from French
  • Cuba Largest island of the West Indies
  • Dominican ___ Republic, the Spanish-speaking part of a shared island
  • Haiti First sovereign state of the West Indies, free since 1804
  • Havana Cuban capital, moved to its present spot in 1519
  • Hispaniola Island shared by two countries, the second-largest of the West Indies
  • Hurricane Great whirling storm of late summer; its name comes from a native West Indian word
  • Louverture Toussaint ___, general of the Haitian fight for freedom
  • Mambo Cuban dance music that became a craze in the late 1940s
  • Manatee Gentle, slow sea cow of warm coastal waters
  • Maracas Seed-filled rattles, usually played two at a time
  • Merengue Fast, lively dance music whose name is also a dessert of whipped egg whites
  • Plantain Starchy cooking fruit, sliced and fried into tostones
  • Port-au-Prince Haitian capital, on a wide bay
  • Puerto Rico Land that became a territory of the United States in 1898
  • Reef A barrier one off the Belizean coast is part of the world's second-largest coral system
  • Rumba Afro-Cuban style of drumming, song and dance
  • Salsa One word for a spicy sauce and for a lively dance music
  • San Juan Walled port founded in 1521, capital of a U.S. island territory
  • Santo Domingo Oldest European-founded city in the Americas that people still live in, begun in 1496
  • Sugar Sweet crop of the cane fields that shaped the history of the islands
  • Taíno Native people of the big islands when Spanish ships arrived in 1492
  • Tropics Belt of the Earth where the Sun can stand straight overhead

South America 22

  • Aconcagua Highest mountain in the Americas
  • Argentina Second-largest country of South America, stretching south toward Antarctica
  • Atacama Desert of the Chilean north, dry enough to test instruments bound for Mars
  • Bolívar Simón ___, general called the Liberator, born in Caracas in 1783
  • Bolivia Landlocked country named for the general called the Liberator
  • Brazil Largest country of South America, where people speak Portuguese
  • Chile Southern country that leads the world in copper mining
  • Colombia Country named for the sailor who crossed the ocean in 1492
  • Condor Giant mountain vulture that is a national symbol of several countries
  • Ecuador Country to which the Galápagos tortoises belong
  • Fuego Tierra del ___, the land of fire at the southern tip
  • Inca Andean empire that kept its records on knotted strings
  • Llama South American relative of the camel that may spit when annoyed
  • Paraguay Landlocked country where Spanish and Guaraní are both official languages
  • Patagonia Region at the far southern end of the mainland, where sheep farming is a main business
  • Peru Country where the stone city of Machu Picchu stands
  • Samba Dance music of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia that grew from West African traditions
  • San Martín General who marched an army over the high mountains in 1817
  • Tango Dramatic dance for two from the ports of the Río de la Plata
  • Titicaca Lake often called the highest in the world that large boats can sail
  • Uruguay Second-smallest nation of South America, after Suriname
  • Venezuela Country with the world's highest waterfall, Angel Falls

Land, Water and Wildlife 23

  • Amazon River that supplies a fifth of the water that all rivers pour into the oceans
  • Andes Mountains that pass through seven South American countries
  • Atlantic Ocean on the east side of the region
  • Avocado Pear-shaped fruit that is the main ingredient of guacamole
  • Banana Fruit picked in big bunches from giant leafy plants
  • Cacao Tree whose seeds served as money in ancient Mexican markets
  • Chili Hot pepper first cultivated in Mexican lands
  • Coffee Bean crop grown on shady mountain farms across the region
  • Equator Line of zero latitude; it crosses three countries of South America
  • Flamingo Tall wading bird whose name means flame-colored
  • Grande Rio ___, river on part of the border between the United States and its southern neighbor
  • Hummingbird Tiny hovering bird; the smallest of all, the bee kind, is Cuban
  • Iguana Lizard with a flap of skin under its chin, called a dewlap
  • Isthmus Word for a land bridge; the Panamanian one links two continents
  • Jaguar Spotted big cat whose name may come from a Tupi-Guarani word
  • Maize Grain bred from a wild grass called teosinte
  • Pacific Ocean on the west side of the region
  • Rainforest Dense tropical forest drenched by rain; Earth's largest is in northern South America
  • Rubber The earliest known balls made of it were found at an ancient Mexican site
  • Sloth Tree mammal of the region whose name is also a word for laziness
  • Tomato Red fruit that Spanish ships carried to Europe in the 1500s
  • Vanilla Sweet-smelling spice from an orchid vine of Mexican and Central American origin
  • Volcano Cone that can erupt; a chain of them runs along the ocean side of Central America

History, Languages and Food 38

  • Adiós Spanish farewell, said when someone leaves
  • Amigo Pal, in Spanish; English speakers borrowed the word
  • Aztec Empire of central Mexican lands that fell to Spanish forces in 1521
  • Calendar Ancient Central American peoples kept one of 365 days and another of 260
  • Carnival Festival of music and dancing in the streets in the days before Lent
  • Chinampa Small rectangle of rich farmland raised on the bed of a Mexican lake
  • Chocolate Sweet that was only a drink, sipped by the rich, until the 1800s
  • Conquistador Name, meaning conqueror, for the men who took American lands for the Spanish crown
  • Cortés Spanish commander who landed on the Mexican coast in 1519
  • Dorado El ___, the mythical city of gold that explorers hunted for in South America
  • Empanada Stuffed pastry whose name means wrapped in bread
  • Fiesta Word for a festive occasion that English borrowed from Spanish
  • Galleon Big sailing ship of the convoys that carried New World treasure
  • Glyph Carved sign that stands for a word or a syllable
  • Gracias What a polite Spanish speaker says on getting a gift: thanks
  • Hola What a Spanish speaker says to greet a friend: hello
  • Jade Precious green stone of ancient Central American carvers
  • Kahlo Frida ___, painter whose family home, the Casa Azul, is now a museum
  • Maya People of ancient stone cities, noted for art, architecture and mathematics
  • Mestizo Spanish word for a person of mixed Spanish and native ancestry
  • Mural Wall painting; Diego Rivera made giant ones about Mexican history
  • Neruda Pablo ___, Chilean poet who won the Nobel Prize in 1971
  • Obsidian Natural glass from lava, the knife material of the ancient Americas
  • Olmec Earliest known major civilization of ancient Mexican lands
  • Peso Name of the money in Mexican, Cuban and Chilean wallets
  • Piñata Bright hanging figure that children take turns swinging at until the treats fall out
  • Portugal European country whose language is spoken by Brazilians
  • Pupusa Thick stuffed griddle cake, the Salvadoran national dish
  • Quechua Most widely spoken native language family of the Americas
  • Quinceañera Coming-of-age party held when a girl turns fifteen
  • Romance ___ languages: the family, with Spanish and Portuguese in it, that grew from Latin
  • Siesta Afternoon rest after the midday meal
  • Silver Metal mined at Potosí that filled Spanish treasure ships
  • Soccer Most popular sport of the region, called fútbol
  • Spain European country that once ruled most of the region
  • Taco Mexican street food: a filling inside a folded corn round
  • Tamale Dish steamed in a husk; the wrapper may serve as the plate
  • Tortilla Soft flat round bread that wraps a burrito

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grade 4 to 8 social studies, in five sets: Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, South America, land, water and wildlife, and history, languages and food. Facts were checked against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0), Spanish words in Wiktionary and two dates at history.state.gov, in October 2026. Accents are kept in the list (Yucatán, Piñata). Disputed territories and living people are left out. Licence: own work

How it works

This Latin America crossword puzzle is a criss-cross grid that prints on Letter or A4. The first puzzle has 12 easy words, among them Andes, Amazon, Mexico, Caribbean and Isthmus.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the easy one

Mexico and Central America has Tenochtitlan, Quetzal and Cenote. The Caribbean has Hispaniola, Taíno and Merengue. South America has Bolívar, Atacama and Condor. Land, Water and Wildlife has Equator, Hummingbird and Maize. History, Languages and Food has Conquistador, Quechua and Pupusa.

A region named for its languages

Spanish, Portuguese and French all grew from Latin, and that gives the region its name. Romance, the word for that language family, is an answer. Belize is clued as the one place in Central America where the official language is English.

  • Hand out The Caribbean with a map of the West Indies: Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico are all answers.

Questions and answers

Does the Latin America crossword puzzle print with an answer key?

Yes. The key comes out last, on its own sheet, so you can hand out the puzzle and keep the answers. Printing is free and needs no sign-up.

What grade is the Latin America crossword for?

Easy Latin America Words suits grades 4 and 5, with answers such as Cuba, Peru and Taco. The five themed sets suit grades 6 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Which countries are in Latin America?

Usually the countries of the Americas where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken: Mexico, most of Central America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and most of South America, Brazil included. Some definitions add Haiti, where French and Haitian Creole are spoken.

What is the difference between Latin America and South America?

South America is a continent. Latin America is a language region: it also takes in Mexico, Central America and part of the Caribbean, and it leaves out Guyana and Suriname, where English and Dutch are spoken.

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