Muscular System Word Search

A muscle vocabulary sheet with its key: names by body region, the three muscle types and movement words.

Name Date

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0 of 16 words found

OXTSJSKELETALND

BMRELAXEDLCRGYY

TADNTRICEPSQFHL

HSIFSTSOLWIUKOH

ISALEOLCTOSAIHA

NEBEIRPMOPFDMLM

VTDXEILLINWRNUS

OEOIFUTODLMIWWT

LRMOOSHRRMYCSNR

ULINTMHIOUOEMFI

NQNOSBNGWSDPOSN

TTATETYIDCOSOSG

AALEEBWWSLETTPR

RNSPOSTUREMTHUT

YCARDIACONTRACT

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MasseterMASSETER
AbdominalsABDOMINALS
DeltoidDELTOID
TricepsTRICEPS
QuadricepsQUADRICEPS
HamstringHAMSTRING
SartoriusSARTORIUS
MuscleMUSCLE
SkeletalSKELETAL
CardiacCARDIAC
SmoothSMOOTH
InvoluntaryINVOLUNTARY
ContractCONTRACT
RelaxRELAX
FlexionFLEXION
PosturePOSTURE

16 of 24 words from the Muscular System Key Terms list.

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Answer key: Muscular System Word Search

OXTSJSKELETALND

BMRELAXEDLCRGYY

TADNTRICEPSQFHL

HSIFSTSOLWIUKOH

ISALEOLCTOSAIHA

NEBEIRPMOPFDMLM

VTDXEILLINWRNUS

OEOIFUTODLMIWWT

LRMOOSHRRMYCSNR

ULINTMHIOUOEMFI

NQNOSBNGWSDPOSN

TTATETYIDCOSOSG

AALEEBWWSLETTPR

RNSPOSTUREMTHUT

YCARDIACONTRACT

MASSETER, ABDOMINALS, DELTOID, TRICEPS, QUADRICEPS, HAMSTRING, SARTORIUS, MUSCLE, SKELETAL, CARDIAC, SMOOTH, INVOLUNTARY, CONTRACT, RELAX, FLEXION, POSTURE

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All 125 words

Head, Neck and Trunk Muscles 23

Abdominals The rectus abdominis: a pair of segmented muscles down the front of the belly.
Abs A short everyday name for the rectus abdominis.
Buccinator A thin, four-sided muscle that forms the front part of the cheek.
Core The trunk: the central part of the body, on which functional movements depend.
Erector spinae Muscles that work as a set to straighten the back and to rotate it.
Frontalis A muscle that covers parts of the forehead.
Intercostals Muscle groups lying between the ribs; they help move the chest wall in breathing.
Latissimus With "dorsi", a large, flat muscle of the back; the word is Latin for "broadest".
Masseter A chewing muscle, the nearest to the surface and one of the strongest.
Mentalis A paired muscle at the tip of the chin, sometimes called the pouting muscle.
Nasalis A muscle of the nose that can flare the nostrils.
Obliques Flat muscles at the side of the abdomen; the external one is the largest and outermost.
Pectoralis With "major", the thick, fan-shaped muscle that makes up the bulk of the chest muscles.
Platysma A muscle near the surface that covers the front of the neck.

Show all 125 words (111 more)

Head, Neck and Trunk Muscles, continued

Procerus A small pyramid-shaped muscle involved in expressions such as frowning.
Rhomboids Rhombus-shaped muscles of the upper back, linked with the shoulder blade.
Risorius A very variable muscle of facial expression that inserts at the angle of the mouth.
Scalenes Three muscles that form a group on each side of the neck.
Serratus With "anterior", a chest muscle named from the Latin for "to saw"; the boxer's muscle.
Stapedius The human body's smallest skeletal muscle, in the middle ear.
Temporalis A broad, fan-shaped chewing muscle on each side of the head.
Trapezius A large, paired surface muscle of the upper back, shaped like a trapezium.
Zygomaticus With "major", a face muscle that draws the corner of the mouth up and back.

Shoulder and Arm Muscles 19

Anconeus A small triangular muscle behind and below the elbow joint.
Biceps A large two-headed muscle on the front of the upper arm, between shoulder and elbow.
Brachialis A muscle of the upper arm, beneath the biceps, that flexes the elbow.
Curl With "biceps", a lift in which the arm bends at the elbow as the muscle shortens.
Deltoid The muscle that forms the rounded contour of the shoulder.
Extensor A muscle that opens a joint by increasing the angle between two bones.
Flexor A muscle that decreases the angle between two bones at a joint.
Infraspinatus A thick triangular muscle on the shoulder blade that turns the upper arm outward.
Lats A common name for the pair of large, flat back muscles that stretch to the sides.
Lumbricals Small muscles within the hand that flex the knuckles and extend the finger joints.
Palmaris longus A muscle seen as a small tendon in the forearm; it is not always present.
Pronator teres A muscle, mainly in the forearm, that helps turn the palm to face backward.
Rotator cuff A group of four muscles and their tendons that steady the shoulder.
Subscapularis A large triangular muscle that inserts into the humerus and the front of the shoulder capsule.
Supinator A broad muscle curved around the upper third of the radius, in the forearm.
Supraspinatus A fairly small muscle of the upper back, one of the four that steady the shoulder.
Teres major A thick but somewhat flattened muscle that joins the shoulder blade to the humerus.
Teres minor A narrow, elongated muscle of the shoulder; its first name is Latin for "rounded".
Triceps A large three-headed muscle on the back of the upper arm; it straightens the elbow.

Hip and Leg Muscles 23

Adductor A muscle of the inner thigh used mostly for bringing the thighs together.
Biceps femoris A two-headed muscle at the back of the thigh; its long head is part of the hamstring group.
Fibularis With "longus", a muscle on the outer side of the leg, also known as peroneus longus.
Gastrocnemius A two-headed calf muscle near the surface, running from just above the knee to the heel.
Gluteus maximus The main extensor of the hip and the human body's largest single muscle.
Gluteus medius A broad, thick muscle on the outer surface of the pelvis.
Gluteus minimus The smallest of the three gluteal muscles, lying just beneath the middle one.
Gracilis A thin muscle, nearest the surface on the inner side of the thigh; Latin for "slender".
Hamstring Any one of the three muscles at the back of the thigh, between hip and knee.
Iliacus A flat, triangular muscle that helps flex the thigh at the hip.
Pectineus A flat, four-sided muscle at the front of the upper inner thigh; from the Latin for "comb".
Piriformis A flat muscle of the gluteal region whose Latin name means "pear-shaped".
Plantaris A muscle of the back of the leg with a thin belly and a long, thin tendon.
Popliteus A muscle that unlocks the knee when walking.
Psoas major A long, spindle-shaped muscle between the spine and the brim of the pelvis.
Quadriceps A large group of four muscles on the front of the thigh; the only extensor of the knee.
Quads A short name for the four-part muscle group on the front of the thigh.
Rectus femoris One of the four muscles of the front of the thigh, beside the three vastus muscles.
Sartorius The longest muscle in the human body: long, thin and running down the length of the thigh.
Semitendinosus A long muscle at the back of the thigh, named for its very long tendon.
Soleus A powerful muscle of the calf, used in standing and walking.
Tibialis With "anterior", a muscle of the front of the lower leg that brings the toes toward the shin.
Vastus medialis The teardrop muscle: an inner-thigh part of the quadriceps that extends the knee.

Muscle Types and Tissue 28

Actin The protein of the thin filaments in a muscle fibril.
Aponeurosis A tendon in the form of a flat sheet, joining muscle to bone or to fascia.
Belly A muscle's widest part, which pulls on the tendons.
Cardiac Of the heart: one of the three types of muscle, both involuntary and striated.
Endomysium A wispy layer of connective tissue that wraps each single muscle fiber.
Epimysium The fibrous envelope of connective tissue that surrounds a whole skeletal muscle.
Fascia A general term for the sheet-like, membranous structures of the body.
Fascicle A bundle of skeletal muscle fibers wrapped in perimysium.
Fiber A long, tubular muscle cell.
Filament A thread of protein; thick and thin ones slide past each other as a muscle contracts.
Head The part of a muscle at its origin end, attached to a bone that stays fixed.
Insertion The anchor point of a muscle that moves more; for the latissimus dorsi it is the arm.
Involuntary Working without conscious control, as heart muscle does.
Muscle A specialized soft tissue; vertebrates have three types of it.
Myocardium The muscle that makes up the main tissue of the wall of the heart.
Myocyte A mature muscle cell that is able to contract.
Myofibril A rod-like organelle of a muscle cell; each cell holds many chains of them.
Myoglobin A protein in heart and skeletal muscle that binds iron and oxygen.
Myosin A motor protein, best known for its role in contraction; it forms the thick filaments.
Origin The more stable of a muscle's two anchor points, on a bone that moves less.
Perimysium A sheath of connective tissue that groups muscle fibers into bundles.
Sarcolemma The cell membrane that surrounds a skeletal muscle fiber.
Sarcomere The smallest functional unit of striated muscle, repeating between two Z-lines.
Skeletal The type of muscle that is typically attached to bones by tendons.
Smooth The non-striated type of muscle, found in the walls of hollow organs such as the stomach.
Sphincter A circular muscle that keeps a body passage closed and relaxes when needed.
Striated Striped in appearance, like skeletal and heart muscle, because of repeating sarcomeres.
Tendon A tough band of fibrous tissue that joins a muscle to a bone.

How Muscles Move 32

Abduction A motion that pulls a part away from the body's midline.
Adduction A motion that pulls a part toward the midline of the body.
Antagonist A muscle that opposes the one causing a movement, as the triceps opposes the biceps.
Bend What flexion does to a joint such as the elbow.
Blink A quick, gentle closing of the eyelids, the work of the orbicularis oculi.
Circumduction A cone-shaped movement of a body part, as at the hip or shoulder.
Concentric Describes a contraction in which the muscle shortens as it overcomes the load.
Contract To pull tight: what a muscle does when it is activated and generates tension.
Eccentric Describes a contraction in which the muscle lengthens.
Extend To straighten a joint, increasing the angle between body parts.
Extension A straightening movement: the angle between body parts gets larger.
Flexion A bend that makes the angle between two body parts smaller.
Frown A facial expression that involves the procerus.
Isometric Describes a contraction that generates tension without changing the muscle's length.
Isotonic Describes a contraction in which tension stays the same while the muscle's length changes.
Motor unit One nerve cell and all of the skeletal muscle fibers it supplies.
Movement Motion of the body, which the muscular system permits.
Peristalsis A wave of muscle contraction and relaxation that travels down a tube such as the gut.
Posture The way the body is held; muscle tone helps to maintain it.
Pout An expression that gives the mentalis, at the tip of the chin, its nickname.
Prime mover Another name for an agonist: the muscle that produces most of the force of an action.
Pronation The turning of the forearm so that the palm faces backward.
Pull What the belly of a muscle does to its tendons.
Relax To stop contracting: what the triceps does while the biceps lifts the arm.
Rotation A turning of a body part toward the body's center or away from it.
Shiver To shake in small movements of the skeletal muscles, which creates warmth in the cold.
Shorten What a muscle does in a concentric contraction.
Smile An expression made when the zygomaticus major draws the corners of the mouth up and back.
Supination The turning of the forearm so that the palm faces forward.
Synergist A helper muscle that works around a joint to assist an agonist; also called a fixator.
Tone The continuous, partial contraction of resting muscles.
Twitch A single cycle of contraction and relaxation in a muscle fiber.

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 2026-10-08 against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), among them the articles on the muscular system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_system), the list of skeletal muscles of the human body (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_skeletal_muscles_of_the_human_body), skeletal muscle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_muscle), the gluteus maximus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteus_maximus), the stapedius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapedius_muscle), the sartorius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sartorius_muscle), muscle contraction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction), anatomical terms of muscle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_muscle) and anatomical terms of motion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_motion). A vocabulary list for class, not medical advice. Licence: own work

How it works

This muscular system word search has muscle names from the jaw to the calf and the words for how muscle works. The first grid draws 16 of 24 key terms such as Deltoid, Triceps and Cardiac.

Read the full guide

A muscle word search by body region

Under Start from a list, Head, Neck and Trunk Muscles has 23 words, from Masseter and Trapezius to Stapedius. Shoulder and Arm Muscles has 19, with the Rotator cuff and its Supraspinatus. Hip and Leg Muscles has 23, among them Sartorius, Soleus and Gastrocnemius.

A muscles word search for types and movement

Muscle Types and Tissue has 28 words: Skeletal, Cardiac and Smooth, then Sarcomere, Actin, Myosin and the three wrappings, Epimysium, Perimysium and Endomysium. How Muscles Move has 32 and pairs Flexion with Extension, Abduction with Adduction and Pronation with Supination.

Voluntary is left out because it reads inside Involuntary, and the key would ring the same squares twice.
Psoas major, Teres minor and 13 more two-word names hide as one run of letters: PSOASMAJOR.

Questions and answers

What are the three types of muscle?

Skeletal, cardiac and smooth. Skeletal muscle is typically attached to bones by tendons. Cardiac muscle makes up the main tissue of the heart wall. Smooth muscle sits in the walls of hollow organs such as the stomach, the intestines and the bladder.

How many muscles are in the human body?

More than 600 skeletal muscles; the exact number varies with the way they are counted. Together they are about 40% of the body weight of a healthy young adult.

What is the largest muscle in the human body?

The gluteus maximus, the main extensor of the hip, is the single largest. The stapedius, in the middle ear, is the smallest skeletal muscle, just over one millimeter long. The sartorius, which runs down the thigh, is the longest.

Is the muscular system word search printable with its key?

Yes: the puzzle is one page and the key the next, on Letter or A4. With Show clues, not words ticked, Soleus prints as "A powerful muscle of the calf, used in standing and walking."

All 125 words

Head, Neck and Trunk Muscles 23

Head, Neck and Trunk Muscles, continued

Shoulder and Arm Muscles 19

Hip and Leg Muscles 23

Muscle Types and Tissue 28

How Muscles Move 32

How it works

A muscle word search by body region

A muscles word search for types and movement

Questions and answers

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