Digestive System Crossword Puzzle

Press New puzzle for a grid of digestion words, from Mouth to Rectum, and solve or print it.

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Digestive System 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

Word bank

  • Anus
  • Appendix
  • Colon
  • Liver
  • Mouth
  • Pancreas
  • Pharynx
  • Rectum
  • Salivary gland
  • Sphincter
  • Teeth
  • Tongue

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 3 pages on Letter or A4: the grid, the clues on a sheet of their own, then the answer key. The squares print 10 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

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Answer key: Digestive System Crossword

1S2PH3ARYNXAPLP4S5PHIN6CTERAVONNALDCROIRYNX7TEGOA8LIVE9RNSAEG10ANUSCUD11TEETHU12MOUTH

Across 2 PHARYNX · 4 SPHINCTER · 8 LIVER · 10 ANUS · 11 TEETH · 12 MOUTH

Down 1 SALIVARYGLAND · 3 APPENDIX · 5 PANCREAS · 6 COLON · 7 TONGUE · 9 RECTUM

Next step Now all eleven body systems in one crosswordNext: find each organ on the diagram

All 40 clues

Show all clues and answers

Organs and Parts 22

  • Anus Opening at the end of the tract
  • Appendix Small finger-shaped pouch at the start of the wide lower gut
  • Colon Main, longest part of the wide lower gut
  • Duodenum First section of the long, narrow gut after the belly
  • Epiglottis Flap that closes over the windpipe when you swallow
  • Esophagus Muscular tube from the throat down to the belly
  • Gallbladder Small pouch that stores a green-yellow digestive juice
  • Large intestine Wider tube that takes fluid back from waste
  • Liver Large organ under the right ribs that makes a fat-splitting juice
  • Mouth Where digestion begins, just behind the lips
  • Pancreas Gland tucked behind the belly that sends juices into the gut
  • Pharynx The throat, shared by food and air
  • Rectum Last section of the gut, where waste waits
  • Saliva Watery juice that softens food as you chew
  • Salivary gland One of the glands that make spit
  • Small intestine Long coiled tube where most food is absorbed
  • Sphincter Ring of muscle that opens and closes a passage
  • Stomach J-shaped bag that churns food with acid
  • Teeth Hard white parts that cut and grind food
  • Tongue Muscle that tastes food and pushes it back to swallow
  • Uvula Small flap hanging from the soft palate
  • Villi Tiny finger-like folds lining the long, narrow gut

What Happens to Food 18

  • Absorption Taking digested food into the blood
  • Amylase Chemical in spit that begins breaking down carbohydrates
  • Bile Green-yellow liquid that breaks fat into small drops
  • Bolus Soft ball of chewed food ready to swallow
  • Chewing Grinding food into small pieces with the jaws
  • Chyme Thick soupy mix of food and juices that leaves the belly
  • Enzyme Substance that speeds up the breakdown of food
  • Feces Solid waste left at the end of digestion
  • Fiber Plant material the body cannot digest that helps waste move
  • Hydrochloric ___ acid, the strong acid made by the belly lining
  • Ingestion Taking food in through the lips
  • Lipase Chemical that breaks down fats
  • Nutrients Useful parts of food the body takes in
  • Pepsin Chemical made by the belly lining that starts breaking down meat, eggs and beans
  • Peristalsis Waves of muscle squeezing that push food along
  • Protein Body-building nutrient in meat, eggs and beans
  • Starch Carbohydrate in bread and rice that spit starts to break down
  • Swallowing Pushing a ball of food down into the throat

How this list was compiled: 40 clues written for this site in two sets: the organs and parts from the lips to the end of the tract, with the helper organs, and the words for what happens to food. Facts were checked against Wikipedia's articles on each organ and process. Classroom anatomy only: no illness, diet or treatment is clued. No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

This digestive system crossword puzzle draws from 40 clues in two sets: the organs food passes through, with the liver, gallbladder and pancreas that help, and the words for what happens on the way.

Read the full guide

Two sets

Organs and Parts follows food from the Mouth past the Epiglottis and Duodenum to the Rectum, and adds the helper organs. What Happens to Food covers Bolus, Peristalsis, Chyme, Bile and the enzymes Amylase, Pepsin and Lipase. All mixes both.

On paper or on screen

For a class, print it: the key comes on the last sheet. On a phone or laptop, tap any square and type. Harder? Switch the word bank off under More options.

  • Follow the food: fill in the parts in the order a bite meets them, and the rest of the grid gets easier.
  • Clues say belly and gut instead of naming organs, so no clue gives away another answer.

Questions and answers

Is there a digestive system crossword with answers?

Yes. The last printed sheet is the key, and Show all clues and answers, below the grid, lists the 40 digestion clues with their answers.

Which grades is it for?

Organs and Parts fits grades 5 to 8. What Happens to Food, with enzymes such as Amylase and Pepsin, fits middle and high school biology. The grade bands are ours, not from a curriculum.

How is this different from the digestive system diagram?

The diagram asks you to find each organ by its place in the body. This crossword asks you to recall and spell it from what it does, and adds the process words a drawing cannot show, such as Peristalsis and Absorption.

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