What is the life stage between a caterpillar and a butterfly called?

The pupa (inside a chrysalis or cocoon).

Is a spider an insect?

No, it is an arachnid, with eight legs instead of six.

Animals & Nature

Insects Word Search

This insects word search hides words like ant, spider, butterfly to find. Play it free online or print the PDF with the answer key, a handy insects vocabulary activity.

10 words · 11×11 grid · Medium · Answer key included · Free printable PDF

Animals & Nature

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Tap the first and last letter of a word — or use arrow keys and Enter. Dragging works too.

BUTTERFLY
DRAGONFLY
BUMBLEBEE
CENTIPEDE
MOSQUITO
SCORPION
CRICKET
LADYBUG
SPIDER
ANT

🎉 Solved — all 10 words found!

True stories

A trillion cicadas

Illinois, United States, 2024

In the spring of 2024, two broods of periodical cicadas crawled out of the soil across the American Midwest and Southeast at the same time, something that had not happened since 1803. Brood XIX, on a thirteen-year clock, met Brood XIII, on a seventeen-year clock, and scientists estimated their combined numbers in the trillions. After spending more than a decade underground sipping sap from tree roots, the insects climbed into the sunlight, shed their shells, and filled the air with a buzzing roar. The males sang to attract mates, and within weeks the adults were gone, their eggs left waiting in the branches for the next emergence.

Monarchs bounce back

Central Mexico, March 2025

Each winter, millions of monarch butterflies fly south from the United States and Canada to cluster in a few mountain forests in central Mexico, hanging from the fir trees in glittering orange curtains. For years their numbers had been falling, and scientists feared for the great migration. But in March 2025, a survey led by the World Wildlife Fund brought rare good news: the forest area the monarchs filled had nearly doubled from the winter before, rising from about 2.2 acres to roughly 4.4 acres. Researchers cautioned that the count was still far below past decades, yet for the first time in a while there was reason to hope.

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Did you know?

ant: A 2022 study estimated about 20 quadrillion ants on Earth, roughly 2.5 million ants for every single person alive.
spider: A spider is not an insect but an arachnid, with eight legs instead of six, and most spin silk stronger than steel.
butterfly: A butterfly tastes with its feet, standing on a leaf to know if it is the right plant for its caterpillars.
mosquito: Only female mosquitoes bite, needing the protein in blood to make eggs, while males sip flower nectar instead.
dragonfly: Dragonflies are among nature's deadliest hunters, catching prey on up to about ninety-five percent of their attempts in the air.
cricket: A cricket chirps by rubbing its wings together, and you can roughly guess the temperature by counting how fast it sings.
ladybug: A single ladybug can eat thousands of plant-eating aphids in its life, which is why farmers welcome it as a tiny ally.
scorpion: A scorpion glows a bright blue-green under ultraviolet light, though scientists still are not certain why its shell does this.
bumblebee: A bumblebee beats its wings fast enough to warm its muscles, letting it fly on cold mornings when other bees stay grounded.
centipede: Despite its name meaning a hundred feet, no centipede actually has exactly one hundred legs, since they always come in odd-numbered pairs.
caterpillar: A caterpillar can grow so fast it sheds its skin several times, eating many times its own weight before forming a cocoon.
grasshopper: A grasshopper can leap about twenty times its own body length, springing from back legs coiled like loaded springs.
millipede: A millipede is harmless and slow, curling into a tight spiral when threatened rather than biting, unlike its faster centipede cousin.
cocoon: Inside a cocoon a caterpillar dissolves into a kind of soup, then rebuilds itself entirely into a moth or butterfly.
firefly: A firefly makes its cold light through a chemical reaction in its belly, flashing a coded pattern to signal for a mate.

Trivia

How many legs does an insect have: six, eight, or ten?
Six.
What is the life stage between a caterpillar and a butterfly called?
The pupa (inside a chrysalis or cocoon).
Which insect makes honey?
The honeybee.
Is a spider an insect?
No, it is an arachnid, with eight legs instead of six.
Which insect is known for the longest migration, flying from Canada to Mexico?
The monarch butterfly.

Trivia · 1 / 5

How many legs does an insect have: six, eight, or ten?

Six.

In their words

It is the little things that run the world.
E. O. Wilson

Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment.
Lewis Thomas

Is this insects word search free to print?

This insects word search is a free printable puzzle with 10 hidden words in an 11×11 grid. Find words like BUTTERFLY, DRAGONFLY, BUMBLEBEE hidden across, down, and diagonally. You can play it right here in your browser — tap the first and last letter of a word — or download it as a printable PDF with the full answer key on page two. It's free for personal and classroom use, so teachers can print copies for a whole class with no sign-up and no account. Word searches like this one are a proven way to build vocabulary, spelling, and word-shape recognition, which is why they're a favourite with ESL learners, elementary classrooms, and anyone who likes a quiet puzzle with their coffee.

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