Printable Skeleton Crossword Puzzles

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on the skeletal system: skull, spine, limbs, joints and the inside of a bone.

More options

Settings you change are kept in this browser for your next visit.

Name Date

Skeleton Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

This grid is wider than a phone screen, so it scrolls sideways. It prints whole.

Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

Across

Down

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 10 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

A share link holds the puzzle number and these settings, nothing you typed.

Answer key: Skeleton Crossword

1J2B3MARROWR4SIEP5CNA6LIGAMENTSNRT7VERTEBRABIO8SKELETONNKA9FEMURG10RL11PELVISLB

Across 3 MARROW · 6 LIGAMENT · 7 VERTEBRA · 8 SKELETON · 9 FEMUR · 11 PELVIS

Down 1 JOINT · 2 BREASTBONE · 4 SPINE · 5 CARTILAGE · 8 SKULL · 10 RIB

Next step Find bone names in a word searchPrint the bones vocabulary worksheet

All 126 clues

Show all clues and answers

Skull and Face 24

  • Cranium The joined bones around the brain, which guard it from injury
  • Eight Number of bones in the braincase, and in each wrist
  • Ethmoid Bone that separates the space inside the nose from the brain
  • Fontanelle Soft spot between the bones of a baby's head
  • Foramen ___ magnum: the opening that lets the main nerve cord through
  • Fourteen Number of bones in the face, and of finger bones in one hand
  • Frontal ___ bone: the bony part of the forehead
  • Hyoid Bone in the neck also known as the tongue-bone
  • Incus Ear bone that takes vibrations from the hammer
  • Malleus First of the ear's tiny bones, called the hammer
  • Mandible The one movable bone of the head's bony case
  • Maxilla Upper jaw: two bones joined at a midline seam
  • Nasal Two small ___ bones form the bridge of the nose
  • Occipital Bone at the back of the head with a large oval opening in its base
  • Orbit Bony cup of the head in which an eye sits
  • Ossicles Tiny bones of the middle ear, as a group
  • Parietal Each ___ bone is roughly four-sided and helps roof the head
  • Skull Bony frame of the head: braincase plus face
  • Stapes Smallest and lightest bone in the human body
  • Stirrup Riding gear that names the smallest bone
  • Suture Seam between two bones of the braincase that does not move
  • Temporal Paired bone that houses the structures of the ear
  • Vomer Unpaired bone that forms the lower part of the wall between the nostrils
  • Zygomatic Anatomy's word for the cheekbone

Spine and Rib Cage 23

  • Atlas First neck bone, named for the Greek figure who bore the heavens
  • Axis Second neck bone, with a bony peg called the dens
  • Breastbone Plain name for the long bone down the middle of the chest
  • Cervical Word for the bones of the neck
  • Coccyx Last piece of the backbone, named in Greek for a cuckoo
  • Costal Word for the flexible bars that tie the upper pairs to the front of the chest
  • Disc Shock-absorbing pad in the backbone
  • Floating Word for the eleventh and twelfth pairs in the chest cage, attached only at the back
  • Lumbar Word for the five bones of the lower back
  • Manubrium Top region of the chest's middle bone
  • Necktie Piece of clothing whose shape the chest's middle bone roughly has
  • Rib One of 24 curved bones, a dozen on each side
  • Sacrum Bone at the base of the backbone whose Latin name means holy bone
  • Seven Number of neck bones in a human, and in most mammals
  • Spine Column that guards the main nerve cord
  • Sternum Bone with three regions that anchors the cage of curved bones in front
  • Tailbone Plain name for the backbone's last part
  • Thirty-three Usual count of bones in a human backbone, nine of them grown together in adults
  • Thoracic Word for the backbone's middle segment, which carries the chest cage
  • Thorax Chest region whose organs the cage of curved bones protects
  • Twelve Number of pairs in a typical human chest cage
  • Vertebra One of the stacked bones around the nerve cord
  • Xiphoid Lowest tip of the chest's middle bone; the word means sword-shaped

Arms, Legs and Girdles 24

  • Acetabulum Cup-like part of the hip that holds the round head of the thigh bone
  • Arch Springy curve of the foot, shaped by its middle bones
  • Calcaneus Bone that makes the heel; its name comes from the Latin word for heel
  • Carpals Small bones that make up the wrist, as a group
  • Clavicle The only long bone in the body that lies horizontally
  • Collarbone Plain name for the S-shaped shoulder strut
  • Femur Largest and thickest bone in the human body
  • Fibula Calf bone; its name is Latin for a clasp or brooch
  • Girdle Set of bones that attaches a pair of limbs to the trunk, at the shoulders or the hips
  • Humerus Bone whose lower end meets the two forearm bones at the elbow
  • Humorous Sound-alike of an arm bone's name, one reason people say "funny bone"
  • Ilium One of the three parts of a hip bone, with the ischium and the pubis
  • Metacarpals Bones that form the middle part of the hand, in the palm
  • Metatarsals Long bones of the foot, between the heel-and-ankle group and the toes
  • Olecranon Knob that sticks out at the back of the bent arm, part of the longer forearm bone
  • Patella Bone in front of the knee; its name comes from the Latin for a shallow dish
  • Pelvis Basin-shaped ring of bones at the hips
  • Phalanges Bones of the fingers and toes: 56 in all
  • Radius Thicker of the two forearm bones; its name is Latin for ray
  • Scapula Bone on the back of the shoulder, named in Latin for a trowel or small shovel
  • Talus Foot bone whose name is Latin for ankle
  • Tarsals Bones that form the heel and the ankle, as a group
  • Tibia Shinbone, named for a flute; only the thigh bone is bigger
  • Ulna Forearm bone whose top end makes the point of the elbow

Joints and Connectors 20

  • Articulation Anatomy's longer word for the meeting place of two bones
  • Bursa Small sac that makes a cushion between bones and the cords around them
  • Capsule Dense fibrous wrap that encloses a freely movable connection
  • Cartilage Smooth cap on the ends of long bones
  • Fluid Slippery filling, like egg white, that cuts friction where bones meet
  • Gliding Word for a flat connection in which bones only slide
  • Hinge Door part that names the elbow's bend
  • Hyaline Glass-like, translucent tissue found in the nose and the windpipe
  • Immovable Like the connections between the bones of the braincase
  • Joint Place where two bones come together
  • Lever What a bone acts as when a muscle pulls on it to move the body
  • Ligament Band that ties bone to bone
  • Meniscus Crescent-shaped pad, found in the knee
  • Nod Head movement that the first neck bone allows: up and down
  • Pivot Kind of connection that allows turning, as when the forearm rotates
  • Saddle Riding seat that names a connection in the thumb
  • Sesamoid Kind of bone that forms inside a muscle's cord, like the one at the knee
  • Socket Ball-and-___: the hip's kind of connection
  • Synovial Word for the most common and most movable connections in the body
  • Tendon Cord that ties muscle to bone

Inside a Bone 35

  • Appendicular Word for the 126 bones of the limbs and their attachments
  • Axial Word for the 80 bones on the body's vertical line
  • Calcium Bones hold more of it than any other organ
  • Canal Central channel in each cylinder of dense bone, which carries blood vessels
  • Compact Kind of bone tissue that is closely packed and looks like a solid mass
  • Diaphysis Anatomy's word for the main part of a long bone, between its ends
  • Endoskeleton Rigid internal frame, like a human's
  • Epiphysis Tip of a long bone, beyond the plate where it lengthens
  • Exoskeleton Rigid shell that does for a crustacean what inner bones do for a person
  • Fuse What some bones do as a child grows, taking the count from about 270 to 206
  • Growth ___ plate: the part of a long bone where new bone is added in childhood
  • Hematopoiesis Thirteen-letter word for blood formation
  • Hollow Like many bird bones, which have criss-crossing struts for strength
  • Irregular Shape class of the backbone's bones, which fit none of the other three
  • Lacunae Small spaces between the rings of dense bone where mature bone cells sit
  • Lamellae Rings laid around the central channel of dense bone
  • Marrow Blood-making core of a bone
  • Matrix Hard material between bone cells, laid down in rings
  • Minerals About 70 percent of bone: the hard part, bound up with a flexible part
  • Ossification The process of bone formation
  • Osteoblast Bone-forming cell
  • Osteoclast Cell that breaks down bone
  • Osteocyte Mature bone cell, the kind found most often in grown bone
  • Osteology The scientific study of bones
  • Osteon Roughly cylindrical unit of dense bone, also called a Haversian system
  • Periosteum Thin wrap on the outside of a bone, missing only at its moving ends
  • Phosphorus One of the two elements bones are best known for storing
  • Remodel What living bones do when the stress on them changes
  • Shaft Long middle part of a bone, in a plain word
  • Shark Fish whose frame is flexible tissue, not bone
  • Skeleton All 206 named bones of an adult, as one
  • Spongy Lighter, less dense kind of bone tissue, made of plates and bars
  • Trabecula One of the tiny plates of light bone tissue, lined up along the lines of stress
  • X-ray Rays discovered in 1895, used to check bones
  • Yellow Color of the fat-storing filling in adult bones

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for science classes from grade 5 to high school, in five sets: the skull and face, the spine and rib cage, arms and legs, joints, and the inside of a bone. Names, counts and word origins were checked against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the skeletal system pages of the National Cancer Institute's SEER Training Modules (training.seer.cancer.gov) in October 2026. Licence: own work

How it works

This skeleton crossword puzzle is printable on Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 basic words, among them Skull, Femur, Rib, Vertebra, Joint, Cartilage, Marrow and Pelvis. Five more sets go through the skeleton part by part.

Read the full guide

A set for each part of the skeleton

Skull and Face has Mandible, Zygomatic, Stapes and Fontanelle. Spine and Rib Cage has Atlas, Axis, Sacrum and Xiphoid. Arms, Legs and Girdles has Clavicle, Humerus, Patella and Calcaneus. Joints and Connectors has Hinge, Pivot, Meniscus and Bursa. Inside a Bone has Osteon, Periosteum, Osteoblast and Epiphysis.

Counts and name stories as clues

Clues carry the counts of the unit: 206 named bones in an adult, 24 for Rib, 56 for Phalanges. Others say where a name comes from: Coccyx from a cuckoo, Fibula from a brooch, Tibia from a flute, Scapula from a trowel.

  • Near Halloween, Skeleton Basics makes a science warm-up: every bone in it is a real one.

Questions and answers

What grade is the skeletal system crossword for?

Skeleton Basics suits grades 5 to 7, with answers such as Skull, Rib and Spine. The five themed sets use middle school and high school anatomy words, such as Periosteum and Acetabulum. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Do the skeleton crossword puzzles print with an answer key?

Yes. The key prints last, on a sheet of its own, with the grid filled in and the answers by clue number. Printing is free, with no sign-up.

Is this the kind of skeleton crossword with a nearly blank grid?

No. In Britain a skeleton crossword is a puzzle whose grid leaves most clue numbers and shaded squares for the solver to work out; Americans call it a diagramless. This page is a crossword about the bones of the body.

How many bones are in the human skeleton?

About 270 at birth and about 206 in an adult, because some bones fuse as a child grows. Of the 206, 80 are in the axial skeleton and 126 in the appendicular skeleton.

More tools

Show 7 more

Browse Puzzles