Frontal bone (forehead)The single bone of the forehead. It also forms the roof of each orbit, and the slight dip on it between the eyebrows is the glabella.
Nasal bone (bridge of the nose)One of two small bones forming the bony bridge of the nose. They join each other and support the cartilages that shape the rest of the nose.
Lacrimal boneA small rectangular bone at the front of the orbit's inner wall. A groove on it, the lacrimal fossa, leads down into the nasolacrimal canal, the path tears take to the nasal cavity.
Ethmoid boneA single midline bone between the orbits. Its perpendicular plate, marked here, is the upper part of the nasal septum. It also carries the superior and middle nasal conchae and the sieve-like cribriform plate.
Zygomatic bone (cheekbone)The cheekbone, forming much of the side wall of the orbit. Its temporal process runs back to make the front part of the zygomatic arch.
Inferior nasal conchaA curved plate projecting into the nasal cavity from its side wall. It is the largest of the three conchae and a bone in its own right. The superior and middle conchae are parts of the ethmoid.
VomerA triangular bone in the nasal septum. It forms the back and lower part. The perpendicular plate of the ethmoid forms the upper part, and cartilage, which a dry skull has lost, forms the front.
Maxilla (upper jaw)Forms the upper jaw and most of the hard palate. One of a pair. Its alveolar process holds the upper teeth, and the maxillary sinus inside it is the largest of the sinuses around the nose.
Mandible (lower jaw)The lower jaw, and the only bone of the skull that moves. It meets the temporal bone on each side at the temporomandibular joint.
Parietal boneForms most of the upper side and roof of the skull. One of a pair. The two meet each other on top at the sagittal suture and meet the frontal bone at the coronal suture.
Sphenoid boneOne bone crossing the middle of the skull base, side to side. It is often called the keystone of the skull, because most of the other skull bones join it. From the side only its greater wing shows. Inside, its saddle-shaped sella turcica ho
Temporal boneOne of a pair that forms the lower side of the skull. Its name is usually traced to the Latin tempus, time. A dense ridge of it inside the skull houses the middle and inner ear.
Occipital bone (back of the skull)The single bone at the back of the skull. It curves underneath to form the back of the skull base, where the foramen magnum passes through it.
Palatine boneThere are two, a right and a left. The horizontal plate of each forms the back quarter of the hard palate, so this bone shows best from below.
Sutures and where they meet: 7 7
Squamous sutureJoins the temporal bone's flat squamous part to the parietal's lower edge. It arches backward from the pterion.
PterionThe region where the frontal, parietal, temporal and sphenoid bones meet. They meet in an H-shaped set of sutures. The name comes from the Greek word for wing.
Lambdoid sutureJoins the occipital bone to the two parietal bones. It is named for its shape, like the Greek capital letter lambda, and carries on downward as the occipitomastoid suture.
Coronal sutureJoins the frontal bone to the two parietal bones. Like every suture of the skull it is a fibrous joint that does not move.
BregmaThe point where the coronal and sagittal sutures cross. So the frontal bone and both parietal bones meet here. In a baby this spot is still membrane, the anterior fontanelle.
Sagittal sutureJoins the two parietal bones along the midline of the skull roof. The name comes from the Latin sagitta, an arrow.
LambdaThe point where the sagittal suture meets the lambdoid suture. It is named for the Greek letter lambda, whose shape the meeting sutures make.
Openings, processes, landmarks: 15 15
Supraorbital foramenA small opening in the frontal bone. It sits near the middle of the upper rim of the orbit. A sensory nerve to the forehead passes through it. In some skulls it is an open notch and not a closed hole.
Orbit (eye socket)The bony socket that holds the eyeball. Seven skull bones contribute to its walls: the frontal, zygomatic, maxilla, palatine, ethmoid, lacrimal and sphenoid.
Zygomatic archThe bridge of bone between the cheek and the ear opening. Two bones build it: the zygomatic bone sends its temporal process backward, and the temporal bone sends its zygomatic process forward to meet it.
External acoustic meatus (ear canal)The opening of the ear canal, which leads in toward the eardrum. In an adult the whole canal is about 25 millimeters long, and its inner two thirds run through bone.
Mastoid processA bump of the temporal bone you can feel behind the earlobe. Neck muscles attach to it, among them the sternocleidomastoid. It is absent or very small at birth.
Styloid processA slender, pointed process of the temporal bone. It is named for its likeness to a stylus. Muscles and ligaments attach to it, among them the stylohyoid ligament, which runs to the hyoid bone.
Palatine process of the maxillaThe shelf of each maxilla in the hard palate. It forms the front three quarters of this bony plate between the mouth and the nasal cavity.
Foramen ovaleAn oval opening in the greater wing of the sphenoid bone. The mandibular nerve, which carries feeling from the lower teeth, chin and cheek, passes through it.
Foramen lacerumAn irregular gap, filled with cartilage after birth. It lies between the sphenoid, the tip of the petrous temporal bone and the occipital bone. The internal carotid artery passes over it, not through it.
Mandibular fossaA hollow in the temporal bone. It receives the condyle of the mandible to form the temporomandibular joint. The articular tubercle bounds it in front.
Carotid canalA tunnel through the petrous part of the temporal bone. The internal carotid artery, a main supply of blood to the brain, enters the skull through it.
Jugular foramenIrregular opening between the temporal bone in front and the occipital behind. Blood draining from the brain leaves through it into the internal jugular vein, along with cranial nerves IX, X and XI.
Occipital condyleOne of two oval knobs on either side of the foramen magnum. They sit on the first vertebra of the neck, the atlas, and so support the skull on the vertebral column.
Foramen magnumThe large oval opening in the occipital bone. The spinal cord leaves the skull through it. The vertebral arteries pass up through it. The name is Latin for large opening.
External occipital protuberanceA midline bump on the outer surface of the occipital bone. The nuchal ligament and the trapezius muscle attach to it, and its highest point is called the inion.
How this list was compiled: Names and detail lines were checked on 2026-09-19 against OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, section 7.2 (https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/7-2-the-skull), and against the English Wikipedia article on each part, starting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull. Corrections made on 2026-09-20 were checked on Wikipedia and, for word origins, on Wiktionary. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site, 2026-09-20. Own original line drawing built from measured proportions. Looked at for accuracy only, nothing traced or copied: three public-domain plates drawn by Henry Vandyke Carter for Gray's Anatomy, 1918 edition, on Wikimedia Commons (plate 190 the skull from the front, plate 188 the side view, plate 187 the external base), and the text of the Wikipedia articles Vomer, Foramen lacerum, Jugular foramen, Mandibular fossa and Temporal styloid process. Licence: own work
How it works
Label the skull on four views: front, left side, top, and the base from below. This skull labeling quiz has 36 parts: the 14 bone names, 7 sutures and meeting points, and 15 openings, processes and landmarks.
Read the full guide
Bones first, then sutures and openings
The quiz asks a few parts at a time: the 14 bone names first, then the sutures, then the openings and processes. Tap the ring of the part it names. A wrong tap shows the right part, and a round ends with the ones you missed to practice again.
One set or one view
Under More options, The 14 bone names is the list a skull bones quiz asks for first, and Cranial bones: 6 names makes it a cranial bones quiz: frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, sphenoid, ethmoid. Four more sets zoom to one view each, so the 10 parts of the base are easy to tap on a phone. Name it lights a part and asks its name. Typed, cheekbone counts for zygomatic bone.
The coronal suture crosses the skull from side to side. The sagittal suture splits it from front to back. They meet at the bregma.
On the base, front to back: foramen ovale in the sphenoid, carotid canal in the temporal bone, jugular foramen between temporal and occipital bones.
Questions and answers
Is there a printable skull labeling worksheet?
Under More options, the blank print gives four views with rings 1 to 36 and name lines, and the labeled print is its key. Rings 27 to 36 are the unlabeled inferior view of the skull. For a skull anatomy quiz pdf, print to PDF.
How many bones are in the skull?
Twenty-two by the usual count: 8 cranial and 14 facial. Six are single (frontal, occipital, sphenoid, ethmoid, vomer, mandible) and eight come in pairs, which is why 14 names cover them. The hyoid and the ear ossicles are usually counted apart.
Which parts of the skull does this quiz leave out?
The landmarks of the mandible, the infraorbital and mental foramina, the inside of the sphenoid, the floor of the cranial cavity, the superior and middle nasal conchae, the hyoid, the ear ossicles and the fontanelles. Each needs a drawing of its own.
Can a class use this as a skull labeling game?
Yes. Project the page and let teams take turns tapping the part the quiz names. A right tap writes the name on the drawing, a wrong one shows the right part, and each short round ends with a count of right answers.