Capitals of North America Quiz

Name the capital city of every country in North America: 23 questions, each with four capitals from the same continent. Below the game is the full list of North America countries and their capitals to study first. This capitals of North America quiz also has the quiz in a printable form, and tables that sort the 23 capitals by level, first letter and name length.

Capitals of North America quiz to print (PDF)

The four printable pages below are a multiple-choice sheet, a write-in sheet, the answer key and a black-and-white version. Click a picture for the PDF.

How to play the capitals of North America quiz

Set the level, the number of questions and the timer above the quiz. This quiz has 23 questions in three levels: 5 easy, 8 medium and 10 hard. A wrong answer shows the right one, and the result ends with a list of answers to learn.

Capitals people often get wrong

• Belize: Belmopan, not Belize City
• Canada: Ottawa, not Toronto
• United States: Washington, D.C., not New York

North America countries and capitals

Capitals of North America quiz: 23 capitals by level

The capitals of North America quiz sorts the 23 capitals of North America into three levels, so players of every age can find a level that suits them. Easy has 5 capitals that most people know, medium has 8 and hard has 10:

North America capitals quiz: capitals by first letter

A quick way to see the shape of a list is to count the first letters. In this North America capitals quiz, the letter S starts the most capitals (5 of 23), followed by B (3). Here is the full count:

Capitals of North America: the longest and shortest names

When you study the capitals of North America, the names with the fewest letters are the easiest to spell, and the longest are the ones that are most often written wrong. Counting only letters, the names are:

For the write-in sheet, accents and apostrophes do not matter for learning, but players should know that the spelling of some capitals has changed over the years.

North America capital cities quiz: capitals with the same name as the country

The North America capital cities quiz has 3 capitals that share a name with their country, which makes them the easiest to remember:

North America countries and capitals: a five-day study plan

To learn the North America countries and capitals in a week, work through the levels one by one. This plan uses the 5 easy, 8 medium and 10 hard capitals in the quiz, and a short write-in test to check what you remember:

Most players need two or three rounds to get to 100% on the easy level, and about 5 minutes to play all 23 questions at 12 seconds each.

Capital city changes in North America

Some of the capitals in this quiz are new, and others are not the largest city. These facts help players remember the answers, and they come from the history of each country. Wikipedia’s list of national capitals has the full details:

• The United States has Washington, D.C. as its capital, and D.C. is not in any state: it stands for the District of Columbia.
• Canada has Ottawa as its capital, chosen by Queen Victoria in 1857, as a compromise between bigger cities such as Toronto and Montreal.
• Belize moved its capital from Belize City to the inland city of Belmopan in 1970, after Hurricane Hattie in 1961.
• Mexico, Guatemala and Panama each have a capital named after the country, with “City” added.
• Thirteen of the 23 countries are island nations in the Caribbean, from Cuba to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
• Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Dominica have capitals (Basseterre, Castries and Roseau) that few players know.

Print this capitals of North America quiz

Make a printable version with an answer key: 10 to 30 questions, as multiple choice or write-in answers.

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