Practice naming the major body cavities, placing them within the dorsal or ventral group, and identifying the boundary made by the diaphragm. The eight questions below have a separate answer key so you can attempt the whole set before checking.

Print the body-cavities worksheet

Choose US Letter or A4. Each question sheet and answer key is one page, with no account or email required. This is written terminology practice, without a labeling diagram.

How the major cavities fit together

The dorsal (posterior) group includes the cranial cavity for the brain and the vertebral cavity for the spinal cord. The ventral (anterior) group includes the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities.

  • Dorsal: cranial; vertebral (spinal).
  • Ventral: thoracic; abdominopelvic, which divides into abdominal and pelvic portions.

The heart and lungs lie within the thoracic cavity. These groupings follow the NCI SEER anatomical terminology reference.

The diaphragm separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominopelvic cavity below it. The abdominal and pelvic portions, however, are continuous: no membrane divides them. See OpenStax section 1.6, Body Cavities and Serous Membranes. This exercise stays with the major compartments; it does not test serous membranes or their associated spaces.

Eight practice questions

Use a separate sheet or the printable worksheet. For a correction question, rewrite the entire grouping so you can check both the cavity name and its parent group.

  1. Which cavity houses the brain?
  2. Which cavity houses the spinal cord?
  3. Name the two main subdivisions of the ventral body cavity.
  4. What muscle separates the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities?
  5. Name the two subdivisions of the abdominopelvic cavity.
  6. Does a membrane separate the abdominal cavity from the pelvic cavity?
  7. Which major ventral subdivision contains the lungs?
  8. Correct this grouping: dorsal cavity > thoracic cavity > heart.
Show the eight answers and explanations
  1. The cranial cavity, a subdivision of the dorsal body cavity.
  2. The vertebral (spinal) cavity, also called the vertebral canal. It belongs to the dorsal body cavity.
  3. The thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities.
  4. The diaphragm. It forms the inferior boundary of the thoracic cavity.
  5. The abdominal and pelvic cavities.
  6. No. These are continuous subdivisions; there is no separating membrane between them.
  7. The thoracic cavity. The question asks for the major subdivision, rather than a smaller space associated with each lung.
  8. Ventral cavity > thoracic cavity > heart. The thoracic cavity belongs to the ventral group; the dorsal group houses the brain and spinal cord.

After checking your answers

On your course's body-cavity diagram, point to each subdivision without looking at the labels. If you missed a grouping, write that branch again from its major cavity down to its subdivisions. Keep the name your course uses for the vertebral or spinal cavity beside your correction.

Continue with directional-terms practice for relative positions, or anatomical-planes practice for sections through the body. All printable sets are collected in the anatomy practice library.

Questions and explanations by Atlas Library. Terminology checked against the linked NCI and OpenStax references on September 9, 2026.