US Government Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross US government crossword whose clues say who does what in each of the three branches.

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US Government Crossword

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

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Word bank

  • Amendment
  • Bill
  • Congress
  • Court
  • Election
  • Justice
  • Senate
  • Senator
  • Veto
  • White House

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Answer key: US Government Crossword

1SEN2ATORM3V4WHITEHOUSENT5ED6CO7BILLMO8JEEUU9CONGRESSTTTTIIOC10SENATEE

Across 1 SENATOR · 4 WHITEHOUSE · 7 BILL · 9 CONGRESS · 10 SENATE

Down 2 AMENDMENT · 3 VETO · 5 ELECTION · 6 COURT · 8 JUSTICE

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All 167 clues

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Congress: The Legislative Branch 38

  • Bicameral Built of 2 chambers, like the national lawmaking body
  • Budget Plan for the government's money, which lawmakers survey
  • Capitol Building whose south wing holds one chamber and whose north wing holds the other
  • Caucus Meeting of all the members of one political side in a chamber
  • Census The Constitution calls it an "actual Enumeration" and orders one each decade
  • Chair Member who heads a full panel of lawmakers
  • Clerk Officer who keeps a chamber's records
  • Cloture Step that ends a long delaying talk; it takes 60 votes of 100
  • Compromise The Great one settled how each chamber's seats are shared among the states
  • Confirm To say yes to a President's pick for a high post, a job of the upper chamber
  • Congress Its 2 chambers must both pass a measure before the President sees it
  • Constituent A person back home whom a lawmaker represents
  • Delegate Member from Guam or American Samoa, who may not vote when the full chamber meets
  • District Part of a state whose people elect one member of the larger chamber
  • Expel To remove a member for bad behavior; it needs 2/3 to agree
  • Filibuster Long stretch of talk used in the upper chamber to delay or block a measure
  • Gavel Wooden mallet that calls a noisy chamber to order
  • House The ___ of Representatives, where a state with more people gets more seats
  • Hundred How many members sit in the upper chamber: one ___
  • Impeach To charge an official with wrongdoing, a power of the lower chamber
  • Investigate To dig for the facts, as lawmakers have done since 1792
  • Legislative Word for the branch made up of the 2 chambers and their support offices
  • Majority 218 of 435, or 51 of 100, is a simple one
  • Minority The smaller of the 2 sides in a chamber, which has a leader of its own
  • Oversight Lawmakers' job of watching over agencies and programs
  • Population What decides how many seats a state gets in the larger chamber
  • Quorum What a chamber needs before it can act: more than half its members present
  • Representative Lawmaker elected for 2 years, also called a congressman or congresswoman
  • Senate The 100-seat chamber, where every state has the same say
  • Senator One of 100 lawmakers, each elected for 6 years
  • Session If a measure is still unsigned when lawmakers are no longer in ___, it dies
  • Six Years in one term for a member of the upper chamber
  • Speaker Leader of the larger chamber, chosen by its members
  • Tax Money collected to pay for government; measures to raise it start in the lower chamber
  • Thirty Youngest age allowed for a member of the upper chamber
  • Two How many members each state sends to the upper chamber
  • War Only the lawmaking branch has the power to declare it
  • Whip Assistant leader who helps manage a side's lawmaking program

The President: The Executive Branch 30

  • Advisor Person who gives counsel, as each member of the President's inner circle does
  • Agency Government office with a special task; some are called independent
  • Ambassador Official who speaks for the country in a foreign land
  • Appoint To place a person in a post, with the advice and consent of the upper chamber
  • Army Land force that the Constitution puts under the President
  • Cabinet Group that counsels the President; it includes the heads of the 15 big divisions
  • Commander Title the Constitution gives the President as head of the armed forces: ___ in chief
  • Department One of 15 large divisions of the branch the President leads
  • Diplomat Person whose job is talks between governments
  • Electors Each state gets as many as it has members in both chambers; there are 538 in all
  • Embassy Office of our country's envoy in a foreign land
  • Enforce To make sure rulings and laws are obeyed, a job of the branch the President leads
  • Executed The President must take care that the laws are "faithfully ___"
  • Executive Word for the branch that holds the departments and the independent agencies
  • Four Years in one presidential term
  • Inauguration It is held for each new presidential term, even a second one
  • January A new President takes over in this month, 73 to 79 days after the voting
  • Navy Sea force that the Constitution puts under the President, beside the land force
  • Nominate To name a person for a high post, as the President does with judges
  • Oath "I do solemnly swear" are its first words when a President takes office
  • Pardon To forgive a federal crime, a power the President holds
  • Resident A President must have been one of the United States for 14 years
  • Secretary Usual title of an official who runs one of the 15 big divisions: the ___ of Energy
  • Succession Presidential ___: the line of leaders who would step in, one after another
  • Treasury The national finance office, named for a place where money is kept
  • Treaty Agreement with another country; the upper chamber must agree to it by 2/3
  • Twice The most times one person may be elected President
  • Union State of the ___: what the President must report on from time to time
  • Vice President Next in line, who also presides over the upper chamber and breaks its ties
  • White House Where the President lives and works

The Courts: The Judicial Branch 30

  • Appeal Request that higher judges check whether the rules were applied correctly
  • Case One dispute or charge brought before the bench to be decided
  • Circuit One of 12 regions the federal judges are split into, plus a Federal one
  • Constitutional In keeping with the nation's highest written plan of government
  • Court Where disputes and charges are heard; the highest one sits in Washington
  • Dissent Written disagreement from the losing side of a decision
  • Docket List of disputes waiting to be heard in a courtroom
  • Equal First word written above the main entrance of the highest bench's building
  • Evidence What a panel of citizens weighs before it decides
  • Interpret To explain the meaning of, as judges do with laws
  • Judge Person who runs a courtroom; the federal ones are picked by the President
  • Judicial Name of the branch that decides what laws mean
  • Jury Group of people who listen in a courtroom and decide; the Constitution says it must be "impartial"
  • Justice Title of each member of the highest bench
  • Lawsuit Dispute between 2 sides that is taken to a courtroom
  • Lawyer Person trained to argue for a client in a courtroom
  • Life Federal judges serve "during good Behaviour," which can mean for ___
  • Nine Seats on the highest bench today: 1 for its leader and 8 for the associates
  • Opinion Written explanation of a decision from the bench
  • Overturn What the highest bench can do to laws that break the Constitution
  • Peaceful Judges offer a ___ way to settle disputes people cannot resolve themselves
  • Precedent Earlier decision that later judges follow
  • Robe Garment that marks a person who sits on the bench
  • Supreme First word in the name of the nation's highest bench
  • Thirteen How many appellate benches sit just below the highest one
  • Three How many branches the Constitution divides the federal government into
  • Trial Courtroom process that settles a dispute or a criminal charge
  • Tribunal Formal word for a body of judges; the highest bench is the top one in the nation
  • Verdict A panel of citizens' decision: guilty or not guilty
  • Witness Person who tells a courtroom what he or she saw

How a Bill Becomes a Law 29

  • Amendment A change to a measure, or one of the 27 changes made to the Constitution
  • Bill A proposal for a new statute, or for a change to an old one
  • Calendar List on which a measure waits to be voted on
  • Committee Body to which a new measure is assigned first
  • Conference Kind of joint panel that settles the gaps between the chambers' texts
  • Debate What lawmakers do when they argue for and against a measure before voting
  • Draft To write out a proposal for the first time
  • Enrolled Word for the final printed text that goes to the President
  • Floor Where a whole chamber meets to argue and vote
  • Hearing Public meeting of a panel, where people speak for or against a measure
  • Ideas What every statute starts out as, before a lawmaker writes it down
  • Introduce To formally present a new measure to a chamber
  • Law What a proposal becomes once the President approves it
  • Legislation Proposed or passed statutes, taken together
  • Override What lawmakers can do, in most cases, to a President's refusal
  • Petition Request from people or groups that asks a lawmaker for a new statute
  • Pocket The "___" refusal: a measure left unsigned when lawmakers have gone home
  • Print What the Government Publishing Office does with the final text
  • Resolution Formal statement that a chamber votes on, introduced like a measure
  • Roll call Kind of vote that records each member's name and answer
  • Sign What the President does to make a measure official
  • Sponsor What a lawmaker does to a measure to start it on its way
  • Study What a panel of lawmakers does with a new measure first
  • Ten Days the President has to act on a measure
  • Two thirds As a share of 100 seats, it comes to 67
  • Unanimous With no one objecting: ___ consent is one way the upper chamber acts
  • Version Each chamber may pass its own ___ of a measure; then both must agree on one
  • Veto A President's refusal to make a measure official
  • Voice Kind of vote taken by members calling out together

Elections, States and Citizens 40

  • Ballot What you cast for President; it goes to a statewide count
  • Campaign The weeks of speeches and rallies before the people choose
  • Candidate To become President, one needs the votes of at least 270 of the 538
  • Checks A President's "no" and judges striking down a statute are both examples
  • Citizen A President must be a natural-born one
  • College The Electoral ___ is a process, not a place
  • Convention 55 delegates met at one in 1787, and 39 of them signed its work
  • Council Group elected to pass a city's ordinances
  • County Most states call their main subdivisions this; Louisiana calls them parishes
  • December Month when the 538 meet in their states to cast the votes that count
  • Delaware The first of the 13 states to accept the Constitution
  • Democracy Rule by the many: the people choose, and the most votes win
  • Eighteen Voting age set by the 26th change to the Constitution
  • Election Presidential ___: the contest won with 270 or more electoral votes
  • Federalism System in which Washington handles some matters and each statehouse handles others
  • Fifty How many states send lawmakers to Washington
  • Framers The people who wrote the Constitution
  • Governor Chief official of each state and of the five inhabited territories
  • Incumbent The officeholder, in a race against a challenger
  • Legislature State lawmaking body; changes to the Constitution go to these or to state conventions
  • Local Kind of government that a city or a town has
  • Maine New England state that, like Nebraska, can split its presidential votes
  • Mayor The person who runs city hall
  • November Month when the people vote for President
  • Party Organized political group, one of which holds most seats in a chamber
  • Polls They open early on voting day and close that night
  • Popular The ___ vote is the count of what all the voters chose
  • Powers Separation of ___: each branch has its own roles and areas of authority
  • Preamble One long sentence that starts with "We" and ends with "America"
  • Primary Earlier contest in which each side picks who will run
  • Ratify To accept formally, as 3/4 of the states must do for a change to the Constitution
  • Register To put your name on the official list of people who may vote
  • Republic Country without a king, where the people pick who leads
  • Reserved Authority not given to the national government is ___ to the states or the people
  • Rights Freedoms guarded by the first 10 changes to the Constitution
  • Slate List of would-be presidential voters that each state's political groups choose
  • Suffrage What women won nationwide in 1920 and 18-year-olds in 1971
  • Tally A count of votes
  • Territory The Virgin Islands are one, with a member in the larger chamber who has limited voting
  • Voter The one who marks the paper and drops it in the box

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 3 to 12. Facts were checked in October 2026 against the Constitution as transcribed by the National Archives (archives.gov) and official pages of USA.gov, house.gov, senate.gov, uscourts.gov, supremecourt.gov and whitehouse.gov; a few rest on English Wikipedia. No office holder is named. Unofficial classroom practice, not an official publication and not legal advice. Licence: own work

How it works

This US government crossword puzzle is a vocabulary crossword for a civics unit, on Letter or A4. The first puzzle has 10 words with a word bank, among them Congress, Senate, Veto, Court, Bill, Amendment and Election.

Read the full guide

One set for each branch, and two more

Congress: The Legislative Branch has Quorum, Filibuster and Census. The President: The Executive Branch has Cabinet, Pardon and Electors. The Courts: The Judicial Branch has Appeal, Dissent and Precedent. How a Bill Becomes a Law has Sponsor, Committee and Override. Elections, States and Citizens has Ballot, Governor and Ratify.

Offices, not office holders

No President, lawmaker or judge is named. The numbers in the clues follow the official pages: 100 senators, 435 voting representatives, 9 seats on the Supreme Court and 538 electors.

  • For a lesson on checks and balances, give each third of the class one branch set, then have the groups trade papers.

Questions and answers

Is there a branches of government crossword puzzle here?

Yes. Three of the sets are the three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Choose one under Clue set and each new puzzle is drawn from that branch alone.

Is this US government crossword puzzle printable with an answer key?

Yes. Press Print: the answer key comes out last, after the puzzle and its clues. It is free, with no sign-up.

What grade is the US government crossword for?

Three Branches: Easy Words suits grades 3 to 5, with answers such as Law, Jury and Mayor. The five themed sets suit grades 6 to 8 and a high school civics review. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

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