100 General Knowledge Questions and Answers

Ten topics, ten questions each: a ready-to-use list for revision, classrooms and quiz nights, all with answers.

Globe beside the number 100 illustrating one hundred general knowledge questions

Here are 100 general knowledge questions with answers, grouped into ten topics of ten questions each. Use them for revision, a classroom warm-up, a family quiz night or as inspiration for your own quiz.

Want to test yourself interactively instead? Try the General Knowledge Quiz with Answers, or copy your favourite questions into the quiz maker to build your own version.

Space and Earth Questions

  1. Which is the largest planet in our solar system?Answer: Jupiter
  2. Which planet is closest to the Sun?Answer: Mercury
  3. Which planet is known as the Red Planet?Answer: Mars
  4. What is Earth's only natural satellite?Answer: The Moon
  5. About how long does Earth take to orbit the Sun once?Answer: About 365.25 days
  6. Which star is at the centre of our solar system?Answer: The Sun
  7. Which planet is the hottest?Answer: Venus, because its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat
  8. How many planets are in our solar system?Answer: Eight
  9. Who was the first person to travel into space?Answer: Yuri Gagarin, in 1961
  10. What is the name of the galaxy we live in?Answer: The Milky Way

World Geography Questions

  1. Which is the largest ocean on Earth?Answer: The Pacific Ocean
  2. Which is the largest continent by area?Answer: Asia
  3. What is the capital of France?Answer: Paris
  4. Which country has the largest land area?Answer: Russia
  5. What is the tallest mountain above sea level?Answer: Mount Everest
  6. What is the smallest country in the world?Answer: Vatican City
  7. What is the capital of Japan?Answer: Tokyo
  8. What is the largest hot desert in the world?Answer: The Sahara
  9. What is the capital of Australia?Answer: Canberra
  10. What is the largest island in the world that is not a continent?Answer: Greenland

Science and the Human Body Questions

  1. What is the chemical formula for water?Answer: H₂O
  2. Which gas do plants absorb from the air for photosynthesis?Answer: Carbon dioxide
  3. What is the hardest natural substance?Answer: Diamond
  4. At what temperature does pure water boil at sea level?Answer: 100 °C (212 °F)
  5. Which element has the chemical symbol Au?Answer: Gold
  6. Which gas makes up most of Earth's atmosphere?Answer: Nitrogen, about 78%
  7. How many bones are in the adult human body?Answer: 206
  8. What is the largest organ of the human body?Answer: The skin
  9. What is the longest bone in the human body?Answer: The femur (thigh bone)
  10. What does DNA stand for?Answer: Deoxyribonucleic acid

Animals and Nature Questions

  1. What is the largest mammal on Earth?Answer: The blue whale
  2. What is the fastest land animal?Answer: The cheetah
  3. How many legs does an insect have?Answer: Six
  4. Which reptile is famous for changing the colour of its skin?Answer: The chameleon
  5. What is the largest land animal?Answer: The African elephant
  6. What is the tallest animal?Answer: The giraffe
  7. Which is the only mammal capable of true flight?Answer: The bat
  8. What is a baby kangaroo called?Answer: A joey
  9. How many hearts does an octopus have?Answer: Three
  10. What is a group of lions called?Answer: A pride

History Questions

  1. Who was the first President of the United States?Answer: George Washington
  2. In which year did World War II end?Answer: 1945
  3. Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?Answer: Neil Armstrong, in 1969
  4. In which year did the Titanic sink?Answer: 1912
  5. In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?Answer: 1989
  6. Which ancient civilisation built Machu Picchu?Answer: The Inca
  7. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?Answer: Marie Curie, in 1903
  8. Who developed the movable-type printing press in Europe around 1440?Answer: Johannes Gutenberg
  9. Who discovered penicillin in 1928?Answer: Alexander Fleming
  10. In which year was the Magna Carta sealed?Answer: 1215

Inventions and Famous People Questions

  1. Who painted the Mona Lisa?Answer: Leonardo da Vinci
  2. Who is credited with patenting the telephone in 1876?Answer: Alexander Graham Bell
  3. Who developed the theory of relativity?Answer: Albert Einstein
  4. Who described the laws of motion and universal gravitation?Answer: Isaac Newton
  5. Who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web?Answer: Tim Berners-Lee, in 1989
  6. Who wrote Romeo and Juliet?Answer: William Shakespeare
  7. Who wrote the novel Pride and Prejudice?Answer: Jane Austen
  8. Who wrote Don Quixote?Answer: Miguel de Cervantes
  9. Which ancient Greek poet is traditionally credited with the Odyssey?Answer: Homer
  10. Which wonder of the ancient world is still standing today?Answer: The Great Pyramid of Giza

Language and Words Questions

  1. How many letters are in the English alphabet?Answer: 26
  2. Which language has the most native speakers?Answer: Mandarin Chinese
  3. What is the plural of "mouse"?Answer: Mice
  4. What do we call a word that means the opposite of another word?Answer: An antonym
  5. What do we call a word that means the same as another word?Answer: A synonym
  6. In which language is "hola" a common greeting?Answer: Spanish
  7. What type of word describes a noun, such as "blue" or "tall"?Answer: An adjective
  8. What is the past tense of "run"?Answer: Ran
  9. Which punctuation mark is used to show possession, as in "Sara's book"?Answer: The apostrophe
  10. What do we call a word that sounds the same as another but has a different meaning, like "sea" and "see"?Answer: A homophone

Maths and Numbers Questions

  1. What is the square root of 144?Answer: 12
  2. How many degrees are in a full circle?Answer: 360
  3. What is the smallest prime number?Answer: 2
  4. Which number does the Roman numeral X stand for?Answer: 10
  5. How many sides does a hexagon have?Answer: Six
  6. What is the value of pi rounded to two decimal places?Answer: 3.14
  7. How many seconds are in one hour?Answer: 3,600
  8. What is 15% of 200?Answer: 30
  9. How many days are in a leap year?Answer: 366
  10. Which number does the Roman numeral L stand for?Answer: 50

Sports and Games Questions

  1. How many players does a football (soccer) team have on the field?Answer: 11
  2. How often are the Summer Olympic Games normally held?Answer: Every four years
  3. Which sport is played at Wimbledon?Answer: Tennis
  4. How many squares are on a chessboard?Answer: 64
  5. In which sport would you perform a slam dunk?Answer: Basketball
  6. How many rings are on the Olympic flag?Answer: Five
  7. How many players are on a cricket team?Answer: 11
  8. How long is a marathon?Answer: 42.195 kilometres (26.2 miles)
  9. Which country hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?Answer: Greece
  10. Which chess piece moves in an L shape?Answer: The knight

Everyday Knowledge Questions

  1. How many colours are traditionally listed in a rainbow?Answer: Seven
  2. What are the three traditional primary colours in painting?Answer: Red, yellow and blue
  3. How many keys does a standard piano have?Answer: 88
  4. How many months of the year have 31 days?Answer: Seven
  5. Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?Answer: France
  6. What is the currency of Japan?Answer: The yen
  7. What is the currency of the United Kingdom?Answer: The pound sterling
  8. How many continents are there in the common seven-continent model?Answer: Seven
  9. At what temperature does water freeze in degrees Celsius?Answer: 0 °C
  10. How many minutes are in a day?Answer: 1,440

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How to use this list

  • For revision: cover the answers and test yourself one topic at a time.
  • For teaching: pick ten questions from different topics for a quick starter activity.
  • For a quiz night: read one topic per round and keep score on paper.

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