Element symbols quiz: pick the right symbol
Practice matching element names to their chemical symbols, from H for hydrogen to Og for oganesson. Knowing the symbols by heart makes formulas, equations and the periodic table itself much faster to read.
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How it works
Each round has 10 questions: you see an element’s name and pick its symbol from four options. You find out right away whether you were right, and your best score is saved in your browser. Choose the first 20, the first 36 or all 118 elements before you start.
Play it three ways: a classic round of 10 questions, a 60-second speed round (25 right answers earns a star), or survival, where you keep going until you miss three.
Tips
- A symbol starts with a capital letter, and any second letter is lowercase: Co is cobalt, but CO is carbon monoxide.
- Learn the symbols that come from Latin names first: Na (natrium, sodium), K (kalium, potassium), Fe (ferrum, iron), Cu (cuprum, copper), Ag (argentum, silver), Sn (stannum, tin), Sb (stibium, antimony), Au (aurum, gold), Hg (hydrargyrum, mercury) and Pb (plumbum, lead).
- Tungsten’s symbol W comes from its other name, wolfram, which has German roots.
- Watch look-alike symbols such as Mg (magnesium) and Mn (manganese), or Ar (argon), Ag (silver), Au (gold), As (arsenic) and At (astatine).