Printable Nutrition Crossword Puzzles

Print a nutrition vocabulary crossword clued by what each word means: nutrients, food groups, label words and digestion.

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Nutrition Crossword

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Answer key: Nutrition Crossword

1C2L3FHI4RICEVUWEI5GRO6WTHH7MENU8TA9OAT10S11ZFEIU12BEANDC

Across 4 RICE · 5 GROWTH · 7 MENU · 9 OATS · 12 BEAN

Down 1 CHEW · 2 LIVER · 3 FRUIT · 6 WHEAT · 8 TOFU · 10 SEED · 11 ZINC

Next step Print the human body word searchFind food words in a word search

All 136 clues

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Nutrients 34

  • Amino ___ acids: the small units that link into chains to make proteins
  • Antioxidant Substance that slows oxidation, the reaction that turns cut apples brown
  • Calcium One of the minerals; bones and teeth are largely made of it
  • Calorie Unit that measures how much fuel a food supplies
  • Carbohydrate Sugars and starches belong to this group of nutrients
  • Carotene Orange pigment that gives carrots and sweet potatoes their color
  • Cholesterol Substance that the body makes for itself and that foods from animals also contain
  • Electrolyte Any of the charged salts dissolved in body fluids and lost in sweat
  • Fat Found in oils and butter, it packs in the most calories for its weight
  • Fiber Roughage: the stringy and husky parts of plants that leave the body undigested
  • Folate Member of the B group whose name comes from the Latin for leaf
  • Fructose Simple carb that sweetens fruits and honey
  • Glucose The simple carb that blood carries to cells as fuel
  • Gluten Stretchy proteins that hold bread dough together
  • Iodine Element mixed in tiny amounts into some table salt
  • Iron One of the minerals; it is in hemoglobin, the part of blood that carries oxygen
  • Lactose The natural sweet carb found in milk
  • Magnesium Its symbol is Mg; nuts, seeds and leafy vegetables supply it
  • Mineral One of the nutrients that come from soil and rock, taken up by plants
  • Niacin Another name for B3 on a cereal box
  • Nutrient Substance in food that the body uses for fuel, building or repair
  • Potassium Its symbol is K; bananas and potatoes supply it
  • Protein One of the three main nutrients; the body builds muscle, skin and hair from it
  • Riboflavin Another name for B2 on a cereal box
  • Saturated Describes fats that are firm at room temperature, like those in butter
  • Sodium It makes up part of table salt, along with chlorine
  • Starch Carb that plants store in their seeds and roots; it thickens gravy
  • Sucrose What a chemist calls the sweet crystals made from cane or beets
  • Sugar Sweet-tasting carb, such as the kind in honey or maple syrup
  • Thiamin Another name for B1 on a cereal box
  • Trace Word for minerals needed only in very tiny amounts
  • Vitamin One of the nutrients needed in tiny amounts and named with letters such as A, C and D
  • Water It makes up more than half of the human body
  • Zinc Its symbol is Zn; beans, nuts and pumpkin seeds supply it

Food Groups and Foods 39

  • Barley Cereal crop often simmered in soups
  • Bean It grows in a pod: a kidney, pinto or black one, for example
  • Berry Small, soft and juicy: it grows on a bush or cane and stains your fingers
  • Bran Outer layer of a cereal kernel
  • Carrot Orange root that grows underground
  • Cheese Cheddar, feta or mozzarella
  • Citrus Family of oranges, lemons and limes
  • Corn Crop eaten on the cob, popped, or ground for tortillas
  • Dairy Food group built around milk
  • Egg Shelled food with a white and a yolk
  • Fruit Food group of apples, berries and melons
  • Germ The part of a kernel that could sprout into a new plant
  • Grain Food group of bread, pasta and tortillas
  • Greens Leafy vegetables such as kale and collards
  • Herb Leafy plant such as basil or parsley, used for flavoring
  • Legume Plant family of beans, peas and lentils, with seeds in pods
  • Lentil Small, lens-shaped and red, green or brown: it is cooked into soups and dals
  • Meat Beef, pork or lamb
  • Melon Big, round and juicy inside a hard rind: cantaloupe is one
  • Nut Almond, pecan or cashew
  • Oats Cereal crop rolled flat to make porridge
  • Poultry Chicken, turkey and other farm birds, as food
  • Produce Fresh fruits and vegetables, as a store aisle
  • Pulse Dried edible crop of a pod plant, such as a chickpea
  • Quinoa Andean crop with tiny round grains that cook up fluffy
  • Refined Word for grains that have been milled to strip off the outer layers
  • Rice Cereal crop grown in flooded fields called paddies
  • Seafood Fish and shellfish, as food
  • Seed Sunflower, sesame or pumpkin kernel
  • Spice Dried bark, bud or root, such as cinnamon, used for flavoring
  • Spinach Dark leafy green with tender leaves, sold in bunches or bags
  • Squash Zucchini, pumpkin or butternut
  • Staple Main food of a region, eaten nearly every day
  • Tofu Soft white block made from soybean milk
  • Tuber Underground storage part such as a potato
  • Vegetable Food group of broccoli, carrots and peas
  • Wheat Golden field crop milled into flour
  • Whole Word for grains that still have all three parts of the kernel
  • Yogurt Milk thickened and soured by friendly bacteria

Labels, Meals and Measures 35

  • Additive Substance put into a food to change its color, taste or shelf life
  • Allergen Substance, such as peanut or shellfish, that sets off an allergy in some people
  • Appetite Desire for food
  • Canned Sealed and heated in a tin so that it keeps on a shelf
  • Cup Half a pint: the measure most recipes use for flour and milk
  • Daily ___ Value: a package's guide amount for one day
  • Diet All the food and drink a person or animal usually has
  • Dietitian Trained expert in food and eating
  • Enriched Having nutrients put back after milling took them out, as in white flour
  • Fortified Having nutrients added that were not there before, as D is added to milk
  • Gram Small metric unit of weight, shortened to g on packages
  • Grocery Shop where a family buys its food for the week
  • Hunger The feeling of needing food
  • Hydrate Take in fluid, or supply something with fluid
  • Ingredient Any one of the things mixed together to make a dish
  • Label Panel on a package that lists what is inside
  • Meal Breakfast, lunch or dinner
  • Menu List of the dishes a kitchen offers
  • Nutrition Science of what food is made of and what it does in the body
  • Organic Package word for food grown under rules that restrict certain pesticides and fertilizers
  • Ounce There are 16 of these in a pound
  • Pantry Kitchen closet lined with shelves of cans, boxes and jars
  • Percent Part out of 100; its sign, %, heads a column on food packages
  • Portion How much of a food a person takes at one sitting, large or small
  • Preservative Substance added to keep a food from spoiling
  • Raw Not cooked
  • Recipe Instructions a cook follows, with amounts
  • Serving Amount of a food that the numbers on its package are based on
  • Snack Something small to eat between breakfast and lunch, say
  • Sweetener Anything added to make food taste sweet
  • Tablespoon Kitchen measure, shortened to tbsp
  • Teaspoon Small kitchen measure, shortened to tsp
  • Thirst Dry-mouthed signal that the body is low on fluid
  • Vegan Describes meals made with no animal foods at all
  • Vegetarian Describes cooking that leaves out the flesh of animals

How the Body Uses Food 28

  • Absorb Take in, as the gut wall does with nutrients
  • Aroma What the nose picks up from bread in the oven
  • Bile Green-yellow fluid that helps break up fats in the gut
  • Cell Living building block of muscle, skin and every other body part
  • Chew Work food between the teeth before swallowing
  • Colon Last long stretch of the gut, which soaks up leftover fluid
  • Digest Break food down into parts the body can take in
  • Enamel Hardest material in the human body: the outside of a tooth
  • Energy What calories count: the power to move, grow and stay warm
  • Enzyme Helper made by the body that snips food into smaller pieces
  • Esophagus Food pipe: the passage that a swallowed bite travels down
  • Flavor Taste and smell of a food together
  • Glycogen Storage form of carbs kept in muscles for quick fuel
  • Growth Getting bigger, a job that takes building material from food
  • Insulin Hormone that signals cells to take up fuel after eating
  • Intestine Long tube where most nutrients pass into the blood
  • Liver Largest organ inside the body; it processes nutrients carried from the gut
  • Metabolism All the chemical reactions that keep a body alive, including turning food into fuel
  • Molar One of the big flat teeth at the back that do most of the grinding
  • Nourish Supply with the food needed to live and grow
  • Pancreas Gland deep in the upper belly that makes digestive juices
  • Peristalsis Wave of muscle squeezes that pushes food along the gut
  • Saliva Mouth fluid that wets food and starts breaking it down
  • Stomach Stretchy pouch where swallowed food is churned with acid
  • Swallow Send chewed food down the throat
  • Tongue Mouth muscle covered in taste buds
  • Umami Savory fifth basic taste, with a Japanese name
  • Villi Tiny fingers lining the gut wall that soak up nutrients

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for health classes, in four sets: nutrients, food groups and foods, label and kitchen words, and how the body uses food. Each clue gives a word's meaning and none gives eating advice. Meanings were checked in October 2026 against English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0), the FDA's guide to the Nutrition Facts label (fda.gov) and the NIDDK's page on portions (niddk.nih.gov). No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

These printable nutrition crossword puzzles are criss-cross vocabulary grids for a health or food science unit. Every clue says what a word means, and none says what to eat. The page opens on 12 short words such as Fiber, Grain and Diet.

Read the full guide

Four sets

Nutrients runs from Protein and Vitamin to Electrolyte and Antioxidant. Food Groups and Foods sorts Legume, Dairy, Whole and Refined. Labels, Meals and Measures has the words on a package: Serving, Percent, Fortified, Allergen. How the Body Uses Food follows a bite from Chew and Saliva to Villi and Glycogen.

For 8th grade health class

The four unit sets fit 8th grade best; Short Nutrition Words suits grades 4 to 6. These bands are our judgement, not a published standard. Serving and Portion have different clues: the amount a label's numbers are based on, and the amount a person takes.

  • Pair Labels, Meals and Measures with an empty cereal box: pupils find Serving, Percent and Daily on the panel before they solve.

Questions and answers

Is there a printable nutrition crossword puzzle with answers?

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

Is the nutrition crossword puzzle free to print?

Yes. It is free, with no sign-up and no limit on copies. Each press of New puzzle draws another grid from the same clue set.

Which food groups does the puzzle use?

The five of the USDA's MyPlate: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy. Fruit, Vegetable, Grain and Dairy are answers, and Serving and Daily are clued as the FDA's Nutrition Facts label uses them.

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