How many capital cities do you know? This world capitals quiz asks for the capital of 190 countries, with four choices from the same continent. Choose a continent and a level, or print a capitals quiz for class. This world capitals quiz also has the quiz in a printable form, and tables that sort the 190 capitals by level, first letter and name length.
World capitals 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 world capitals quiz
Set the level, the number of questions and the timer above the quiz. This quiz has 190 questions in three levels: 52 easy, 75 medium and 63 hard. A wrong answer shows the right one, and the result ends with a list of answers to learn.
Quizzes by continent
- Capitals of Europe
- Capitals of Asia
- Capitals of Africa
- Capitals of North America
- Capitals of South America
- Capitals of Oceania
Capitals people often get wrong
- Australia: Canberra, not Sydney
- Belize: Belmopan, not Belize City
- Benin: Porto-Novo, not Cotonou
- Brazil: Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro
- Burundi: Gitega, not Bujumbura
- Canada: Ottawa, not Toronto
- China: Beijing, not Shanghai
- Côte d’Ivoire: Yamoussoukro, not Abidjan
- Ecuador: Quito, not Guayaquil
- India: New Delhi, not Mumbai
- Kazakhstan: Astana, not Almaty
- Malawi: Lilongwe, not Blantyre
- Morocco: Rabat, not Casablanca
- Myanmar: Naypyidaw, not Yangon
A few countries are left out because their capital is shared or disputed: Bolivia (Sucre and La Paz), South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein), Israel and Nauru.
World capitals quiz: 190 capitals by level
The world capitals quiz sorts the 190 capitals in the world into three levels, so players of every age can find a level that suits them. Easy has 52 capitals that most people know, medium has 75 and hard has 63:
| Level | Capitals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 52 | Argentina: Buenos Aires, Australia: Canberra, Austria: Vienna, Bangladesh: Dhaka, Belgium: Brussels, Brazil: Brasília, … |
| Medium | 75 | Afghanistan: Kabul, Albania: Tirana, Algeria: Algiers, Angola: Luanda, Armenia: Yerevan, Azerbaijan: Baku, … |
| Hard | 63 | Andorra: Andorra la Vella, Antigua and Barbuda: Saint John’s, Barbados: Bridgetown, Belize: Belmopan, Benin: Porto-Novo, Brunei: Bandar Seri Begawan, … |
The easy capitals are mostly large countries and famous cities, and the hard ones are small island states and countries that most players have rarely heard about. This table shows how the levels are spread across the six continents:
| Continent | Easy | Medium | Hard | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | 20 | 19 | 6 | 45 |
| Asia | 17 | 22 | 6 | 45 |
| Africa | 3 | 20 | 30 | 53 |
| North America | 5 | 8 | 10 | 23 |
| South America | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| Oceania | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
| World | 52 | 75 | 63 | 190 |
Capitals quiz: capitals by first letter
A quick way to see the shape of a list is to count the first letters. In this capitals quiz, the letter B starts the most capitals (25 of 190), followed by M (19). Here is the full count for the top eight letters:
| First letter | How many | Some of the capitals |
|---|---|---|
| B | 25 | Baghdad, Baku, Bamako, Bandar Seri Begawan, … |
| M | 19 | Madrid, Majuro, Malabo, Malé, … |
| S | 17 | Saint George’s, Saint John’s, San José, San Marino, … |
| A | 16 | Abu Dhabi, Abuja, Accra, Addis Ababa, … |
| P | 15 | Palikir, Panama City, Paramaribo, Paris, … |
| K | 11 | Kabul, Kampala, Kathmandu, Khartoum, … |
| T | 11 | Tallinn, Tarawa, Tashkent, Tbilisi, … |
| L | 10 | Libreville, Lilongwe, Lima, Lisbon, … |
Capital cities quiz: the longest and shortest names
When you study the capital cities quiz, 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:
| Letters in the name | Capitals | |
|---|---|---|
| Shortest | 4 | Apia (Samoa), Baku (Azerbaijan), Bern (Switzerland), Dili (Timor-Leste), Doha (Qatar), Juba (South Sudan), Kyiv (Ukraine), Lima (Peru) |
| Longest | 23 | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (Sri Lanka) |
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.
Country capitals quiz: capitals with the same name as the country
The country capitals quiz has 14 capitals that share a name with their country, which makes them the easiest to remember:
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
| Andorra | Andorra la Vella |
| Djibouti | Djibouti |
| Guatemala | Guatemala City |
| Guinea-Bissau | Bissau |
| Kuwait | Kuwait City |
| Luxembourg | Luxembourg |
| Mexico | Mexico City |
| Monaco | Monaco |
| Panama | Panama City |
| San Marino | San Marino |
| Singapore | Singapore |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | São Tomé |
| Tunisia | Tunis |
| Vatican City | Vatican City |
Geography quiz: how many capitals are on each continent?
As a geography quiz, the world capitals quiz is really six smaller quizzes. Africa has the most capitals (53 of 190), and South America has the fewest (11). If you study one continent at a time, the sizes are:
| Continent | Capitals in the quiz | Share of the quiz |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 53 | 27.9% |
| Asia | 45 | 23.7% |
| Europe | 45 | 23.7% |
| North America | 23 | 12.1% |
| Oceania | 13 | 6.8% |
| South America | 11 | 5.8% |
Every continent has its own quiz, so a class can split the work: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Oceania. Then come back to the world quiz as the final test.
Capitals of the world: a five-day study plan
To learn the capitals of the world in a week, work through the levels one by one. This plan uses the 52 easy, 75 medium and 63 hard capitals in the quiz, and a short write-in test to check what you remember:
| Day | What to do | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Play the easy level only (52 capitals) until you score 100% | 52 |
| Day 2 | Play the medium level (75 capitals) with the timer off | 75 |
| Day 3 | Play the hard level (63 capitals) and read each answer aloud | 63 |
| Day 4 | Print the write-in sheet and fill it in from memory | 14 |
| Day 5 | Play all 190 capitals with the timer on and use “Practice the ones I missed” | 190 |
Most players need two or three rounds to get to 100% on the easy level, and about 38 minutes to play all 190 questions at 12 seconds each.
Capital city changes around the world
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:
- Brazil opened Brasília in 1960 to replace Rio de Janeiro, and Nigeria moved from Lagos to Abuja in 1991.
- Australia chose Canberra as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, and Parliament moved there in 1927.
- Canada’s Ottawa was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1857, and Turkey has had Ankara as its capital since 1923.
- Kazakhstan moved from Almaty to Astana in 1997, and Myanmar moved from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005 and 2006.
- Belize moved to Belmopan in 1970 after a hurricane, and Pakistan built Islamabad in the 1960s.
- The Netherlands has Amsterdam as its capital, but the government sits in The Hague.
Print this world capitals quiz
Make a printable version with an answer key: 10 to 30 questions, as multiple choice or write-in answers.
Frequently asked questions
4 quick answers
How many capitals are in the quiz?
190. Four countries with shared, disputed or no official capital are left out.
Can I print a capitals quiz?
Yes: use the maker below the game to print multiple choice or write-in quizzes with an answer key.
Which capitals are hardest in the world capitals quiz?
The hard level has 63 capitals, such as Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Andorra la Vella (Andorra), Yamoussoukro (Côte d’Ivoire), Saint George’s (Grenada). These belong to small countries or to capitals that moved recently, so they come up less often in lessons.
How long does the world capitals quiz take?
Ten questions take about 2 minutes, and all 190 capitals take 38 minutes at 12 seconds each. The timer is optional.