Monkey Word Search

Monkeys of two worlds in one puzzle, the Americas on one side and Africa and Asia on the other.

Name Date

Monkey Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 15 words found

QMAETROOPYBLPKG

OBCJXTCGKOEHRQO

ETBTAILEFAROINE

TDLSSWINGNQWMTW

FETEQUMIOGSLAPX

POITXHBZHSNETZE

CYEDYEFSHFUREXO

CETDFFMDNTREESH

NODZORMSAAOGWCA

NBMMMRALDBEDCSL

BABOONCRMPENAFY

FNFNWCAPUCHINIU

IAVKMNQSRNISOVO

BNSEVJUNGLERPFF

TAPYLPEXHSBAYQF

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.

HowlerHOWLER
CapuchinCAPUCHIN
BaboonBABOON
MacaqueMACAQUE
TailTAIL
FurFUR
TroopTROOP
ClimbCLIMB
SwingSWING
CanopyCANOPY
JungleJUNGLE
BananaBANANA
TreesTREES
MonkeyMONKEY
PrimatePRIMATE

15 of 21 words from the Monkey Favorites list.

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Answer key: Monkey Word Search

QMAETROOPYBLPKG

OBCJXTCGKOEHRQO

ETBTAILEFAROINE

TDLSSWINGNQWMTW

FETEQUMIOGSLAPX

POITXHBZHSNETZE

CYEDYEFSHFUREXO

CETDFFMDNTREESH

NODZORMSAAOGWCA

NBMMMRALDBEDCSL

BABOONCRMPENAFY

FNFNWCAPUCHINIU

IAVKMNQSRNISOVO

BNSEVJUNGLERPFF

TAPYLPEXHSBAYQF

HOWLER, CAPUCHIN, BABOON, MACAQUE, TAIL, FUR, TROOP, CLIMB, SWING, CANOPY, JUNGLE, BANANA, TREES, MONKEY, PRIMATE

Next step Mix these words with your own in the word search maker Scramble the same monkey words

All 90 words

New World Monkeys 13

Capuchin A clever monkey of Central and South America, the only one there that often uses tools in the wild.
Howler A monkey of Central and South American forests. Its roar can carry about 3 miles.
Marmoset A small monkey with claws in place of nails. It gnaws holes in bark to feed on tree gum.
Muriqui The largest kind of New World monkey. It lives in southeastern Brazil.
Night Monkey Also called the owl monkey. It is the only kind of monkey that is truly nocturnal.
Pygmy The ___ marmoset is the world's smallest monkey. An adult weighs just over 100 grams.
Saki A small South American monkey with a long, bushy tail and a hood of fur around its face.
Spider The ___ monkey has very long limbs and a long tail that grips like an extra hand.
Squirrel The small ___ monkey of Central and South America lives in groups of up to 500.
Tamarin A squirrel-sized New World monkey. Many kinds have hair on the face like a mustache.
Titi A small South American monkey. Pairs are often seen sitting or sleeping with their tails entwined.
Uakari A monkey of the Amazon with a short tail and a bald head. The bald kind has a scarlet face.
Woolly The ___ monkey of South American rainforests has a tail that grips.

Show all 90 words (77 more)

Old World Monkeys 15

Baboon A large monkey of Africa and Arabia that lives mostly on the ground and has a long, dog-like muzzle.
Barbary The ___ macaque comes from the mountains of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Colobus An African monkey that eats leaves, flowers and fruit. Its name refers to its stump of a thumb.
Gelada A monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands. Males have a bright red patch of skin on the chest.
Guenon A monkey of Africa south of the Sahara. Most kinds live in forests.
Langur A monkey of the Indian subcontinent. Gray ones live in towns as well as forests.
Macaque The most widespread monkeys. Kinds live from Japan to India, and one lives in North Africa.
Mandrill A large monkey of west central Africa, one of the most colorful mammals. Its face has red and blue skin.
Mangabey An Old World monkey of West Africa.
Patas A ground-dwelling monkey of dry parts of Africa, the fastest runner among the primates.
Proboscis The ___ monkey, found only on Borneo, is known for its unusually large nose.
Rhesus A macaque of Asia. No primate except humans has a wider range.
Snow Monkey The Japanese macaque. No other primate except humans lives farther north.
Talapoin The smallest of the Old World monkeys.
Vervet An African monkey with a black face and gray body hair. Each of its predators sets off a different warning call.

A Monkey's Body 16

Brain Large for the size of the body in monkeys and other primates.
Canines Long, pointed teeth beside the front ones.
Cheek Pouch A pocket inside the mouth where some monkeys carry food to eat later.
Eyes Both of a monkey's face forward, as a person's do.
Fur A monkey's coat of hair, kept clean by grooming.
Hands A monkey uses these to pick food, to hold on and to groom.
Limbs Arms and legs.
Muzzle The nose and jaws that stick out from an animal's face. A baboon's is long.
Nails Flat coverings on the tips of the digits. Most monkeys have these, not claws.
Nostrils On a New World monkey these point sideways. On an Old World monkey they point down.
Prehensile Able to grip. Some New World monkeys have a tail like this.
Sitting Pads Hairless patches of tough skin on a baboon's rump that make it comfortable to sit.
Tail Most monkeys have one. Apes do not.
Throat A howler has an enlarged bone here, and air drawn through it makes the call boom.
Thumb The digit that can press against the others. A spider monkey's is tiny or missing.
Toes Like most primates, a monkey has five on each foot.

Troop and Family Life 14

Alarm Call A cry that warns the group. Vervets give a different one for a leopard, an eagle and a python.
Arboreal Living in trees, as many monkeys do.
Chatter To make quick, high sounds one after another.
Climb To go up a tree using hands and feet.
Diurnal Active by day, as most monkeys are.
Forage To go looking for food.
Grooming Picking through another monkey's fur to clean it, which also keeps the group friendly.
Hot Spring A pool of naturally warm water. Some Japanese macaques bathe in them in winter.
Infant A baby monkey.
Leap To jump a long way, as from one tree to the next.
Social Living in groups, as macaques and baboons do.
Swing To hang and sway. A spider monkey does it from a branch by its tail.
Tools Capuchins use rocks as these, as hammers and as anvils, to get into fruits and nuts.
Troop A group of monkeys that live and travel together.

Forest Homes and Food 19

Africa The continent that is home to baboons, mandrills, colobus monkeys and guenons.
Amazon The great river and rainforest of South America, home to many New World monkeys.
Asia The continent that is home to langurs and most macaques.
Banana A long fruit with a yellow peel.
Borneo The island in Southeast Asia that is the only home of the proboscis monkey.
Branch A woody arm of a tree, a monkey's road through the forest.
Canopy The leafy upper layer of a forest, where many monkeys live.
Figs Soft, sweet fruits of a tropical tree.
Fruit The main food of many monkeys.
Gibraltar About 300 Barbary macaques live on the Rock of ___, the only monkeys of their kind in Europe.
Grass Up to 90 percent of what a gelada eats.
Jungle Thick tropical forest, tangled with vines.
Leaves The food gray langurs like best, and a large part of what colobus monkeys eat.
Nuts Hard-shelled seeds. Capuchins open them with rocks.
Omnivore An eater of both plants and animals. Many monkeys take fruit, leaves, eggs and insects.
Rainforest A dense forest with heavy rain all year, home to many kinds of monkey.
Savanna Open grassland with scattered trees, where baboons live.
Trees Many monkeys spend most of their lives in these.
Vines Climbing plants that hang from rainforest trees.

Monkeys and Other Primates 13

Ape A primate with no tail, such as a gibbon, a gorilla or a chimpanzee.
Catarrhine A member of the scientific group that holds the Old World monkeys and the apes.
Chimpanzee A great ape of Africa. With the bonobo it is the closest living relative of humans.
Gibbon A small ape of Asia that swings from branch to branch, up to 15 meters at a time.
Gorilla The largest living primate, a great ape of Africa.
Lemur A primate found in the wild only on the island of Madagascar.
Mammal A warm-blooded animal with hair that feeds its young on milk.
Monkey A primate that usually has a tail. There are New World kinds and Old World kinds.
Orangutan A great ape with reddish-brown hair, found only on Borneo and Sumatra.
Platyrrhine The scientific name for a New World monkey. It comes from Greek words for broad-nosed.
Primate A member of the order of mammals that holds monkeys, apes, lemurs and humans.
Simian A monkey or an ape.
Tarsier A small primate with enormous eyes, found on islands of Southeast Asia.

How this list was compiled: 90 monkey words in six lists, from New World and Old World monkeys to other primates. Facts in the clues were checked on October 16, 2026 against English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0), chiefly its Monkey article, and against the Smithsonian's National Zoo page on the black howler monkey (https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/black-howler-monkey). This site is not affiliated with the Smithsonian. Licence: own work

How it works

This monkey word search opens on 15 words: Howler, Capuchin, Baboon, Macaque, Troop, Canopy, Tail, Primate and seven more. Behind it wait 90 monkey words in six lists, each with a one-line fact.

Read the full guide

A monkeys word search printable in six lists

New World Monkeys has 13 words, such as Marmoset, Tamarin and Uakari. Old World Monkeys has 15, from Mandrill to Gelada. A Monkey's Body has 16, Troop and Family Life 14, and Forest Homes and Food 19. Monkeys and Other Primates has 13, with Gibbon, Lemur and Tarsier, which are primates but not monkeys.

A PDF printable word search on monkeys, easy or hard

Save as PDF in the print window gives a file with the puzzle on page 1 and the answer key on page 2. Easy Monkeys keeps to 27 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Tail, Fur, Leap and Figs. Hard Monkeys has 24 long ones, Prehensile and Night Monkey among them.

The grid drops spaces, so Snow Monkey hides as SNOWMONKEY and Cheek Pouch as CHEEKPOUCH.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between a monkey and an ape?

The quickest check is the tail: most monkeys have one and apes do not. Gibbons, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans are apes. Wikipedia's Monkey article notes that scientists now place apes inside the wider monkey group, so the everyday split is a traditional one.

What is the difference between New World and Old World monkeys?

New World monkeys live from Mexico to South America, have nostrils that face sideways, and some have a tail that grips. Old World monkeys live in Africa and Asia, have nostrils that face down, and none has a gripping tail.

How loud is a howler monkey?

Under certain conditions its call can be heard about 3 miles away, the Smithsonian's National Zoo says, one of the loudest calls of any land animal. The sound is made by drawing air through an enlarged bone in the throat.

What is the smallest monkey?

The pygmy marmoset of the western Amazon. An adult weighs just over 100 grams, and it feeds mostly on tree gum. Pygmy is in the New World list and in Easy Monkeys.

All 90 words

New World Monkeys 13

Old World Monkeys 15

A Monkey's Body 16

Troop and Family Life 14

Forest Homes and Food 19

Monkeys and Other Primates 13

How it works

A monkeys word search printable in six lists

A PDF printable word search on monkeys, easy or hard

Questions and answers

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