• 12 cavities
  • Checked September 2026

Body Cavities Unlabeled and Labeled

The body's cavities from the side, then the chest from the front.

Body Cavities Unlabeled and Labeled

Name Date

Tap the cranial cavity

1 of 12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
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Write the name of each numbered cavity.Answer key

  1. Dorsal cavity
  2. Cranial cavity
  3. Spinal cavity
  4. Ventral cavity
  5. Thoracic cavity
  6. Diaphragm
  7. Abdominopelvic cavity
  8. Abdominal cavity
  9. Pelvic cavity
  10. Pleural cavities
  11. Pericardial cavity
  12. Mediastinum

Drawn for this site on 2026-10-04 by script. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a cavity is answered.

Next step Next: the directional terms

All 12 cavities on the diagram

Show the list

From the side: 9 9

  1. Dorsal cavity The cavity at the back of the body. It is made up of the cranial and spinal cavities, which are joined. Also called the posterior cavity.
  2. Cranial cavity The space inside the skull, which holds the brain.
  3. Spinal cavity The canal inside the backbone, which holds the spinal cord. Also called the vertebral cavity.
  4. Ventral cavity The large cavity at the front of the body. It is made up of the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities. Also called the anterior cavity.
  5. Thoracic cavity The chest cavity, inside the rib cage. It holds the lungs and the heart.
  6. Diaphragm The dome-shaped sheet of muscle that forms the thoracic cavity's floor. It separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominopelvic cavity.
  7. Abdominopelvic cavity The largest cavity in the body, below the diaphragm. No wall divides it, but it is split for description into the abdominal and pelvic cavities.
  8. Abdominal cavity The upper part of the abdominopelvic cavity. It holds the stomach, intestines, liver and other digestive organs.
  9. Pelvic cavity The lowest part of the abdominopelvic cavity, inside the pelvis. It holds the bladder and the organs of reproduction.

The chest from the front: 4 3

  1. Pleural cavities Two spaces in the thoracic cavity, one round each lung.
  2. Pericardial cavity The space round the heart, inside the mediastinum.
  3. Mediastinum The middle part of the thoracic cavity, between the two pleural cavities. It holds the heart.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-27. (1) OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, 1.6 Anatomical Terminology, Body Cavities and Serous Membranes, https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/1-6-anatomical-terminology (used to check the names only, nothing copied): the dorsal (posterior) and ventral (anterior) cavities; the cranial cavity housing the brain and the spinal (vertebral) cavity enclosing the spinal cord, which are continuous; the thoracic cavity inside the rib cage, holding the lungs and the heart in the mediastinum; the diaphragm as its floor; the abdominopelvic cavity, the largest, with no membrane dividing its abdominal and pelvic parts. (2) Wikipedia, Body cavity, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_cavity : the dorsal cavity of cranial and spinal cavities; the ventral cavity of the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities; the lungs surrounded by the pleural cavity and the heart by the pericardial cavity, in the mediastinum; the abdominal cavity housing the organs of digestion and the pelvic cavity below it. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-04 by script. In the side view the outline of the head and trunk, the outline of the cranial cavity and the run of the spinal canal follow Scheme body cavities-en.svg on Wikimedia Commons, vectorised by Mysid, 2008, from Illu body cavities.jpg of the US National Cancer Institute SEER training modules, public domain; the backbone, breastbone, diaphragm and the chest, abdominal and pelvic spaces are constructed. The chest from the front is laid out after Gray's Anatomy (20th edition, 1918) fig. 1216, Front of thorax, showing surface relations of bones, lungs, pleura and heart, fig. 965, Front view of thorax, showing the relations of the pleurae and lungs to the chest wall, and fig. 490, Front view of heart and lungs, drawn by H. V. Carter, public domain (Gray1216.svg, Gray965.png, Gray490.png on Wikimedia Commons); nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The body cavities, unlabeled until you label them: the head and trunk from the side for the main cavities, then the chest from the front for the spaces round the lungs and heart. Print it blank or labelled.

Read the full guide

Back and front

The dorsal cavity at the back is the cranial cavity in the skull joined to the spinal cavity down the spine. The ventral cavity at the front is split by the diaphragm into the thoracic cavity above and the abdominopelvic cavity below.

Inside the chest and abdomen

In the thoracic cavity, each lung sits in a pleural cavity, and the heart sits in the pericardial cavity in the mediastinum between them. The abdominopelvic cavity is described in two parts, the abdominal cavity above and the pelvic cavity below.

  • Dorsal holds the brain and spinal cord; ventral holds nearly everything else, split by the diaphragm.

Questions and answers

What are the two main body cavities?

The dorsal cavity at the back, holding the brain and spinal cord, and the ventral cavity at the front, holding the organs of the chest, abdomen and pelvis.

What separates the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities?

The diaphragm, a dome-shaped sheet of muscle that forms the floor of the thoracic cavity.

What is the largest body cavity?

The abdominopelvic cavity. Nothing divides its abdominal and pelvic parts; the line between them is only drawn to describe it.

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