butterflyFind to reveal
A butterfly tastes with its feet, standing on a leaf to know if it is the right plant for its caterpillars.
Insects Word Search
Find familiar words. Discover something unexpected.
Puzzle10 words · 11×11 grid · Medium · Answer key included
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🎉 Solved — all 10 words found!
Did you know?
Find a puzzle word to reveal its fact.
0 of 10 facts revealed
dragonflyFind to reveal
Dragonflies are among nature's deadliest hunters, catching prey on up to about ninety-five percent of their attempts in the air.
bumblebeeFind to reveal
A bumblebee beats its wings fast enough to warm its muscles, letting it fly on cold mornings when other bees stay grounded.
centipedeFind to reveal
Despite its name meaning a hundred feet, no centipede actually has exactly one hundred legs, since they always come in odd-numbered pairs.
mosquitoFind to reveal
Only female mosquitoes bite, needing the protein in blood to make eggs, while males sip flower nectar instead.
scorpionFind to reveal
A scorpion glows a bright blue-green under ultraviolet light, though scientists still are not certain why its shell does this.
cricketFind to reveal
A cricket chirps by rubbing its wings together, and you can roughly guess the temperature by counting how fast it sings.
ladybugFind to reveal
A single ladybug can eat thousands of plant-eating aphids in its life, which is why farmers welcome it as a tiny ally.
spiderFind to reveal
Some orb-weaving spiders eat their old webs before spinning new ones, making yesterday's insect trap part of the materials for tomorrow's.
antFind to reveal
A 2022 study estimated about 20 quadrillion ants on Earth, roughly 2.5 million ants for every single person alive.
True stories · Illinois, United States, 2024
A trillion cicadas
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 in the branches. The eggs hatch within weeks, and the young crawl down to begin their long underground lives.
The little things that run the world.
E. O. Wilson, article title
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 (a butterfly pupa is commonly called a chrysalis).
Which insect makes honey?
The honeybee.
Is a spider an insect?
No, it is an arachnid, with eight legs instead of six.
Which butterfly is famous for migrating from parts of Canada and the United States to central Mexico?
The monarch butterfly.
Trivia · 1 / 5
How many legs does an insect have: six, eight, or ten?
Six.
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Play →or printTrue stories · Central Mexico, March 2025
Monarchs bounce back
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.
Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment.
Lewis Thomas
Find ant, spider and butterfly among the words hidden in this puzzle. Play free online or print the puzzle with its answer key.
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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Sources: NPR: The number of ants on Earth · Smithsonian: Rare cicada dual emergence 2024 · WWF: Eastern monarch population doubles · Natural History Museum: Dragonflies, the ultimate hunters
Word list, facts & trivia researched and compiled by Sam Letterman — spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.