Science Word Searches by Unit to Print or Solve on Screen

One word search per science unit, 20 in all: key terms, easy and hard lists, clues and an answer key.

65 pages

Earth and space 19

Space and astronomy, the solar system, earth science, rocks and minerals, the rock cycle, weathering and erosion, and weather.

Space Word Search Printable With Clues and an Answer KeyFor an astronomy unit: 133 space words in 9 lists, among them Moon and Planets, Night Sky, Space Travel, Easy Space and Hard Space.
Black Hole Word Search PrintableA black hole puzzle with its key: the parts, the kinds, how one forms and how astronomers find one.
Printable Constellations Word SearchA night sky vocabulary sheet with its answer key: constellations, the zodiac, bright stars and star patterns.
Solar System Word Search Free Printable With Moons and MissionsA planet word search and more: eight planets, their moons and the missions, with a fresh grid on every press.
Moon Phases Word SearchA moon phases word search printable with its key; each phase's clue gives its place in the cycle.
Free Printable Moon Landing Word SearchThe 1969 crew and their craft, the flight step by step, the lunar surface, and the landings before and since.
Printable Solar Eclipse Word SearchA solar eclipse vocabulary sheet with its answer key: kinds of eclipse, the Moon's shadow and the sights of totality.
Earth Science Word PuzzlesPrint an earth science word search for any unit of the course, with its answer key and a closing question.
Layers of the Earth Word Search PrintableThe Earth's layers with an answer key: crust, mantle and core, what each is made of, how we know.
Plate Tectonics Word Search PrintablePlate tectonics vocabulary with an answer key: boundaries, the plates by name, landforms, continental drift and what moves the plates.
Free Printable Volcano Word SearchPrint 16 volcano words with an answer key, or swap in eruption types, volcanic rocks or the earthquake list.
Natural Disasters Word SearchPrint 16 natural disaster words with an answer key, or swap in the storm, earthquake, wildfire or warning list.
Rocks and Minerals Word Search With a Mohs Hardness Scale ListPrint a rocks and minerals puzzle with its answer key for the day the specimen trays come out.
Rock Cycle Word Search With Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic ListsPrint a rock cycle puzzle with its answer key and a closing line that asks how one rock family forms.
Weathering Word Search With Erosion, Deposition and Soil ListsPrint a weathering and erosion puzzle with its answer key, plus a line that asks pupils to sort six words.
Fossil Word Search PrintablePrint 16 fossil words with an answer key, or swap in the dig list or the ages of the Earth.
Weather Word Search PDF With Storms, Clouds and Forecasting ToolsSave this weather puzzle as a PDF, or print it with its answer key, the week the class reads forecasts.
Water Cycle Word Search PrintablePrint 16 water cycle words with an answer key, or swap in the forms of water or the groundwater list.
Global Warming Word SearchGreenhouse gases, where emissions come from, what warming does to ice and seas, and the ways to slow it.

Life science 24

Environmental science, ecosystems, general biology, evolution, cells and organelles, and the human body.

Environmental Science Word Search From Pollution to ConservationPrint a vocabulary puzzle and its answer key for a unit on pollution, climate, natural resources or water testing.
Ecosystem Word Search Puzzle With Food Webs, Biomes and an Answer KeyHunt the ecology vocabulary the day the class draws its first food web; New puzzle deals a fresh grid.
Biomes Word Search PrintablePrint 16 biome words with an answer key, or swap in the tundra, the rainforest, the desert or four more.
Biology Word Search PDF With Genetics, Evolution and Life CyclesSave both pages, puzzle and answer key, as a PDF to post for the class before the genetics unit.
Classification of Living Things Word Search PrintableA taxonomy vocabulary sheet to print with its key: the eight ranks, the three domains and the vertebrate groups.
Vertebrates Word Search PrintableA vertebrates vocabulary sheet with its key, from fish and amphibians to reptiles, birds and mammals.
Printable Biology Word Search on Mollusks and AnnelidsSnails, clams and squid beside earthworms and leeches: two invertebrate phyla, with a meaning for each word.
Evolution Word Search With Natural Selection and Fossil ListsA printable evolution puzzle and answer key for the week your class meets Darwin, natural selection and the fossil record.
Cell and Cell Organelles Word Search Puzzle With an Answer KeyGive the class the organelle names to hunt the day before they label a cell diagram.
Biomolecules Word SearchCarbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, each with its building blocks and bonds, plus the lab tests that find them.
Genetics Word Search PrintablePrint 16 genetics terms with an answer key, or swap in the DNA list, inheritance words or lab words.
Printable Protein Synthesis Word SearchTranscription and translation on one sheet with its key, from DNA and codons to a folded protein.
Bacteria Word SearchCocci, bacilli and spirilla, the parts of a bacterial cell and the lab words that go with them.
Printable Photosynthesis Word SearchPrint 16 photosynthesis words with an answer key, or swap in the parts of a leaf or a flower.
Cellular Respiration Word SearchOne list for each stage, from glucose in the cytosol to the ATP made on the cristae.
Life Cycle Word SearchPrint 16 life cycle words with an answer key, or swap in the butterfly, frog, chicken or plant list.
Human Body Word Search Puzzle With Clues, From Skull to StomachA human body systems word search: pick skeleton, heart, lungs or brain, and the grid holds only that system.
Circulatory System Word SearchA heart and blood vocabulary sheet with its key: the four chambers, the vessels and the parts of blood.
Respiratory System Word SearchPrint 16 respiratory system words with an answer key, or follow the airway from nostril to alveoli.
Skeletal System Word SearchPrint 16 skeletal system words with an answer key, or swap in the skull, spine, arm or leg bones.
Muscular System Word SearchA muscle vocabulary sheet with its key: names by body region, the three muscle types and movement words.
Nervous System Word SearchPrint 16 nervous system words with an answer key, or swap in the neuron, the brain or the senses.
5 Senses Word SearchAll five senses and their organs on the first grid, with describing words sorted by sense.
Eye Word Search Puzzle Free PrintableThe parts of the eye on one sheet with its key, from cornea and pupil to retina.

Physical science 22

Chemistry, states of matter, lab safety, electricity, energy, force and motion, and physics.

Chemistry Word Search Puzzle With Clues and an Answer KeyPut the grid on the board the day the periodic table goes up, or print it with its key.
Chemical Reactions Word SearchA vocabulary sheet with its key: kinds of reaction, parts of an equation and signs of a chemical change.
Printable Protons, Neutrons and Electrons Word SearchAn atomic structure vocabulary sheet with its answer key: the three particles, their charges and where they sit.
Printable Periodic Table Word SearchPrint 16 common elements with an answer key, or swap in the transition metals, the noble gases or the lanthanides.
Food Science Word SearchThe science words behind the kitchen and the food plant: why bread browns, milk sours and jam sets.
States of Matter and Phase Changes Word Search Puzzle With a KeyHand out a fresh vocabulary grid before the melting ice lab, or solve it together on the board.
Physical and Chemical Changes Word Search Free PrintableThe changes of matter on one sheet with its key: physical changes, chemical changes, the signs and the properties.
Density Word Search PrintableA density and buoyancy vocabulary sheet with its answer key, ready to print for physical science.
Scientific Method Word SearchPrint 16 words of an investigation with an answer key, or swap in the variables, data or evidence list.
Laboratory Word Search for Science Lab Safety and EquipmentPress Print or save as PDF for a first-week science lab word search, or solve it on screen.
Lab Equipment Word SearchA lab equipment puzzle with its answer key: glassware, measuring tools, burners and stands, physics and microscope benches.
Printable Microscope Word SearchThe parts of a microscope on one sheet with its key, from eyepiece to stage clips.
Electricity Word Search Puzzle for Circuits, Static and MagnetsAn electrical word search for the circuits unit: bulbs, switches and wires first, then static, magnets and the home.
Energy Word Search PDF With Clues, From Kinetic to RenewableKeep the energy puzzle as a 2-page PDF, or print it the day the unit moves from kinetic to potential.
Solar Energy Word SearchFrom photon to plug: the words of solar panels, solar heat and sunlight, each with a short meaning.
Waves Word SearchPrint 16 wave words with an answer key, or swap in sound, light or how waves behave.
Sound and Light Word SearchOne sheet for light, one for sound, or both mixed: each prints with its answer key.
Force and Motion Word Search Puzzle, From Friction to Newton's LawsWarm up for the ramp and toy car lab: 16 force and motion terms, a new grid every press.
Gravity Word SearchMass, weight, free fall, orbits and tides: the vocabulary of a gravity unit, with a meaning for every word.
Simple Machines Word SearchPrint 16 simple machine words with an answer key, or swap in levers by class, wedges or pulleys.
Bridge Word Search PrintableA bridge vocabulary sheet with its key: types, parts, truss members and the forces they carry.
Physics Word Search for Mechanics, Waves, Heat and Modern PhysicsA printable physics puzzle with its answer key for a high school course, plus an easier physical science list.

A new science unit arrives with a page of new vocabulary, and a word search puts those spellings in front of pupils before the first reading. Each of the 20 pages here covers one unit: seven in earth and space, from the solar system to the rock cycle, six in life science and seven in physical science.

More about these tools

Every page opens on a finished grid of that unit's key terms, and every word has a one-line meaning.

Tick Show clues, not words, by the word list, and pupils hunt from meanings, which turns the sheet into a vocabulary check. Each unit also has an easy list of short words and a hard list of long ones. Every puzzle prints with its answer key on Letter or A4. For the exact terms in your textbook, paste them into the word search maker.

Earth and space 19

Life science 24

Physical science 22

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