Body Parts Vocabulary Quiz
How many body parts can you name in English? Test your knowledge of human anatomy vocabulary — from everyday body words to bones, organs and body systems — across 20 multiple-choice questions.
Start the Quiz →What This Quiz Covers
Body parts vocabulary is essential for everyday English — you need it to describe how you feel, to visit a doctor, to follow exercise instructions, to understand news about health, and to communicate in any healthcare profession. This quiz spans all levels from A1 (head, hand, foot) to B2 (tendon, diaphragm, retina), giving every learner a clear picture of their current knowledge and what to learn next.
The 20 questions cover: the main external body parts (head, face, neck, shoulder, chest, arm, elbow, wrist, hand, finger, thumb, back, hip, leg, knee, ankle, foot, toe), internal organs (heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, stomach, brain, intestines, bladder), bones and skeleton (skull, spine, rib, pelvis, femur), and body-part collocations and idioms used in natural speech (have a pain in my knee, keep an eye on, lend a hand).
What You Will Learn
- The standard English names for all major external and internal body parts, including the less commonly taught terms that appear at B1–B2 level examinations.
- Key body-part collocations: clench your fist, shrug your shoulders, crane your neck, raise an eyebrow, break a leg — phrases where the body part combines with a specific verb.
- Common idioms using body-part vocabulary: keep an eye on, turn a blind eye, have a heart of gold, get cold feet, put your foot in it, cost an arm and a leg.
- Medical vocabulary for describing pain and symptoms: ache, throb, sting, swell, bruise, sprain, fracture — verbs and nouns that describe what happens to different body parts.
How to Prepare
Body parts vocabulary is best learned with visuals. Before taking the quiz, find a labelled diagram of the human body and test yourself on each part. Group the vocabulary into sections: face and head, upper body, lower body, internal organs. Pay particular attention to the difference between everyday informal words and more formal anatomical terms — both appear in this quiz.
For medical and health vocabulary in broader context, try the Health & Medicine Quiz, which builds on body-part knowledge to cover symptoms, treatments and medical procedures. The Jobs & Professions Quiz also covers healthcare professional vocabulary that connects directly to anatomy knowledge.
Related Quizzes
Frequently Asked Questions
At A1 level, focus on the most visible external parts: head, face, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, neck, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, fingers, chest, stomach, back, legs, knees, feet, toes. These are the words you need for simple descriptions, physical instructions and everyday conversation. Once these are secure, move to A2 words: forehead, eyebrows, chin, cheeks, wrist, thumb, ankle, heel, palm. Medical and anatomical terms (tibia, femur, cornea) come later at B1–B2.
Hand is the general word for the entire end of the arm including fingers and thumb. Palm is the flat inner surface of the hand — the part you see when you open your hand face upward. Fist is not a named part of the anatomy but describes the hand when all fingers are curled tightly against the palm, as in punching or knocking. Related words: knuckle (the joint of a finger), fingertip (the end of a finger), fingernail (the hard plate at the end of a finger), thumb (the short, thick digit separate from the four fingers).
English has many idioms using body parts: keep an eye on (watch carefully), turn a blind eye (deliberately ignore), lend a hand (help), get cold feet (become nervous about something), put your foot in it (accidentally say something embarrassing), cost an arm and a leg (be very expensive), bite off more than you can chew (take on too much), have butterflies in your stomach (feel nervous), shoulder the responsibility (accept the burden), face the music (accept consequences). Learning idioms alongside their literal body-part meanings doubles your vocabulary in each session.
To describe pain, combine the type of pain with the body part: I have a headache / stomachache / backache / toothache (for -ache compounds). For more specific descriptions: a sharp pain in my chest, a dull ache in my lower back, a throbbing pain in my temple, a burning sensation in my throat, a stabbing pain in my side. For injuries: I've twisted / sprained my ankle, I've pulled a muscle, I've bruised my knee, I've broken my wrist. Always indicate where: It hurts here / in my left shoulder / just below my ribs.
Common confusions: arm vs hand (arm = from shoulder to wrist; hand = wrist to fingertips); leg vs foot (leg = hip to ankle; foot = ankle and below); stomach vs belly vs abdomen (stomach is informal and refers to the digestive organ or general abdominal area; belly is informal/childish; abdomen is medical); throat vs neck (throat is the internal passage, neck is the external structure); shin (front of lower leg) vs calf (back of lower leg); forearm (lower arm, elbow to wrist) vs upper arm (shoulder to elbow).
Key internal organs: brain (controls the body and processes thought); heart (pumps blood); lungs (exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide); liver (filters blood, produces bile, processes nutrients); kidneys (filter waste from blood to produce urine — there are two); stomach (digests food); intestines (small intestine absorbs nutrients; large intestine absorbs water and eliminates waste); bladder (stores urine); pancreas (regulates blood sugar via insulin); spleen (filters blood, part of immune system). Understanding what each organ does helps you remember its name.
Each finger has a name: the thumb (the short, thick digit — technically not called a "finger" in precise usage); the index finger or forefinger (the pointing finger); the middle finger; the ring finger (where a wedding ring is traditionally worn); and the little finger or pinky (informal). The corresponding toes are simply called by position: big toe, second toe, middle toe, fourth toe, little toe. There are no individual names for toes as widely used as those for fingers.
Yes. Body parts and health vocabulary appear across IELTS topics, particularly in Listening (health clinic conversations, medical instructions) and Reading (science and health texts). In IELTS Speaking Part 1, you may be asked about sports injuries or health, requiring body-part terms. In Writing Task 2, essays about healthcare, fitness and technology often benefit from precise anatomical vocabulary. Knowing body-part collocations also helps in Listening gap-fill tasks where you hear a body part but the gap requires a specific verb: strain, sprain, fracture, twist.
A bone is the hard, calcified tissue that forms the skeleton — it provides structure and protects organs. A muscle is soft tissue that contracts to produce movement — muscles are attached to bones and pull them to create motion. A tendon is a tough fibrous cord that connects a muscle to a bone. A ligament is similar but connects bone to bone, providing joint stability. A common sports injury is a sprained ankle (stretched or torn ligament) or a pulled hamstring (strained muscle in the back of the thigh).
The most effective method is to label a body diagram. Print or draw a simple outline of the human body and write all the English labels you know. Check a dictionary or textbook for the parts you cannot recall, add them, and review daily. The Flash Cards exercise on LexFizz lets you build a custom body-parts set for spaced-repetition practice. Also practise using body-part words in sentences about health and daily life — this creates contextual memories that last much longer than memorising isolated word lists.