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Water Cycle Crossword Puzzle

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Categories Crossword Puzzles For Kids, Science, Spelling Activities 5th Grade, Word Puzzles For Kids

This water cycle crossword puzzle would make a fun science vocabulary worksheet.

It’s ideal for middle school or high school students learning about the water cycle in science class.

Students are given the definition of 24 water cycle themed words to solve.

The printable pdf of the crossword puzzle is free to download and print.

Free printable water cycle crossword puzzle. There are 24 words to fill in down and across. A sun and cloud with rain decorate the top of the page. A raindrop and a body of water decorate the bottom. The worksheet prints in black and white. Students can color the images if desired.

Difficulty Level

The water cycle crossword puzzle is probably best for middle school or high school students.

6 of the puzzle’s words are included in the water themed 5th grade spelling list. So advanced 5th graders learning about the water cycle could give it a try to combine spelling with vocabulary. However I recommend that teachers or parents make sure to cover the vocabulary beforehand.

While there are some easier words (like rain, clouds or sun), there is also more challenging vocabulary like hydrological, aquifer and sublimation.

Water Cycle Words

The student will be given the definitions of 24 water cycle themed words. 

There are words like:

  • water cycle, hydrological cycle, and atmosphere

7 of the words are the stages of a water cycle:

  1. evaporation
  2. condensation
  3. sublimation
  4. precipitation
  5. transpiration
  6. runoff
  7. infiltration

There are precipitation words like:

  • rain, drizzle, sleet, and droplets

Condensation words like:

  • clouds, fog, and dew

Collection words like:

  • aquifer, groundwater, glacier, and ice

And some easier evaporation words like:

  • sun, air, and heat

Printable Water Cycle Crossword Puzzle

The pdf of the water cycle crossword puzzle can be downloaded free below. 

The pdf is 3 pages. It includes the puzzle, a page of clues for down and across, and an answer sheet.

The word puzzle is black and white to make it economical to print.

More Science Word Puzzles

Here are some more science word puzzles for upper elementary to middle school students:

And check out these other fun water cycle activities for kids.

Water Cycle Crossword Answer Key

Here is the answer key for the water cycle crossword puzzle:

The water cycle crossword puzzle answer key. The words across are: drizzle, atmosphere, clouds, sun, precipitation, condensation, water cycle, infiltration, glacier, and runoff. The words down are: droplets, evaporation, hydrological, fog, dew, ice, aquifer, sleet, heat, sublimation, rain, transpiration, and groundwater.

Down:

1 – DROPLETS
2 – EVAPORATION
3 – AQUIFER
4 – SUBLIMATION
5 – HEAT
6 – HYDROLOGICAL
8 – SLEET
9 – TRANSPIRATION
10 – GROUNDWATER
12 – RAIN
15 – DEW
17 – FOG
18 – ICE
19 – AIR

Across:

1 – DRIZZLE
3 – ATMOSPHERE
7 – CLOUDS
11 – SUN
13 – PRECIPITATION
14 – CONDENSATION
16 – WATERCYCLE
18 – INFILTRATION
20 – GLACIER
21 – RUNOFF