Top 50 General Knowledge Quiz Questions (With Answers)

General knowledge quiz questions are one of the easiest ways to test how much you actually remember — and one of the hardest formats to master. Unlike a single-topic exam, a good general knowledge round pulls from history, science, geography, culture, and everyday facts all at once. That variety is exactly what makes pub quizzes, classroom reviews, and family game nights so engaging.

Use this list of 50 questions to warm up before a real quiz, host your own trivia night, or simply learn something new. Each answer appears directly below its question, organised from easy to hard. When you want timed rounds, picture clues, and scored feedback, try the free General Knowledge quiz on PlayTrivia or start a solo quiz and play at your own pace.

Easy

These questions cover familiar facts most adults encounter in school, travel, or daily life. They are ideal for mixed-age groups or as a confidence-building warm-up.

1. What is the capital of France?

Answer: Paris. It has been the political and cultural centre of France for centuries and sits on the River Seine.

2. How many continents are there on Earth?

Answer: Seven — Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Some models merge Europe and Asia into Eurasia, but seven is the standard taught worldwide.

3. What colour do you get when you mix red and blue paint?

Answer: Purple. In light, red and blue combine differently, which is why screen colours behave unlike paint.

4. Who wrote the play Romeo and Juliet?

Answer: William Shakespeare. The tragedy about two young lovers from rival families remains one of the most performed plays in the English language.

5. What is the largest planet in our Solar System?

Answer: Jupiter. It is a gas giant so massive that all the other planets could fit inside it with room to spare.

6. How many days are in a leap year?

Answer: 366. The extra day on 29 February keeps our calendar aligned with Earth's orbit around the Sun.

7. What is the chemical formula for water?

Answer: H₂O — two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom. It is the most abundant compound on Earth's surface.

8. Which country is home to the kangaroo?

Answer: Australia. Kangaroos are marsupials found mainly across the mainland and on some nearby islands.

9. What is 10 multiplied by 10?

Answer: 100. A handy anchor for mental maths and percentage calculations.

10. What is the main official language of Brazil?

Answer: Portuguese. Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world.

11. How many sides does a triangle have?

Answer: Three. It is the simplest polygon and the basis for much of geometry.

12. What is the tallest living mammal?

Answer: The giraffe. An adult male can stand nearly six metres tall, with its long neck giving it a feeding advantage on acacia trees.

13. Which ocean is the largest by surface area?

Answer: The Pacific Ocean. It covers more than 30% of Earth's surface and stretches from Asia to the Americas.

14. Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci. The portrait hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris and is one of the most famous paintings ever created.

15. Which gas do humans need to breathe in order to survive?

Answer: Oxygen. It makes up about 21% of the air we breathe and fuels cellular respiration.

16. How many weeks are in one calendar year (approximately)?

Answer: 52. A standard year has 52 weeks plus one or two extra days depending on the year.

17. What is the currency of Japan?

Answer: The Japanese yen. It has been Japan's official currency since 1871.

Medium

These questions require a bit more recall across subjects. They suit adult pub quizzes and players who already know the basics.

18. What is the smallest prime number?

Answer: 2. It is the only even prime, because every other even number is divisible by 2.

19. Which chemical element has the symbol Au?

Answer: Gold. The symbol comes from the Latin word "aurum."

20. In which year did the RMS Titanic sink?

Answer: 1912. The luxury liner struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

21. What is the longest river in Africa?

Answer: The Nile. It flows north through northeastern Africa into the Mediterranean Sea.

22. Who developed the theory of relativity?

Answer: Albert Einstein. His work revolutionised physics by linking space, time, energy, and gravity.

23. What is the capital of Canada?

Answer: Ottawa. Many people guess Toronto or Montreal, but Ottawa in Ontario has been the capital since 1857.

24. How many strings does a standard six-string guitar have?

Answer: Six. Classical and acoustic guitars typically follow the same standard tuning from low E to high E.

25. Which ancient civilisation is credited with inventing paper?

Answer: China. Paper-making spread from China along trade routes and eventually replaced parchment and papyrus across much of the world.

26. What is the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth?

Answer: Diamond. Its carbon atoms are arranged in a rigid crystal lattice that resists scratching better than any other natural material.

27. Who was the first President of the United States?

Answer: George Washington. He served two terms from 1789 to 1797 and set many precedents for the office.

28. What is the official language of Egypt?

Answer: Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic is used in government and media, while Egyptian Arabic is widely spoken daily.

29. Which planet is known as the Red Planet?

Answer: Mars. Iron oxide on its surface gives it a distinctive reddish colour visible even to the naked eye.

30. Which organ pumps blood through the human circulatory system?

Answer: The heart. It beats roughly 100,000 times per day, sending oxygen-rich blood to tissues throughout the body.

31. How many players from one team are on the field during a standard football (soccer) match?

Answer: Eleven. Substitutes wait on the bench and can replace players during stoppages.

32. What sea lies between southern Europe and northern Africa?

Answer: The Mediterranean Sea. Its shores hosted ancient civilisations including Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Carthage.

33. Which Shakespeare play features the character Lady Macbeth?

Answer: Macbeth. The Scottish tragedy explores ambition, guilt, and the consequences of seizing power by force.

34. What is the chemical formula for table salt?

Answer: NaCl — sodium chloride. It is essential for nerve function and fluid balance in the human body.

Hard

These questions separate strong trivia players from great ones. Expect less obvious facts from history, science, geography, and culture.

35. What is the capital of New Zealand?

Answer: Wellington. Auckland is the largest city, but Wellington on the North Island has been the capital since 1865.

36. Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World stood in Alexandria, Egypt?

Answer: The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also called the Pharos. It guided ships into the harbour for centuries before earthquakes destroyed it.

37. Which subatomic particle in an atom has no electric charge?

Answer: The neutron. Protons carry a positive charge and electrons carry a negative charge; neutrons add mass to the nucleus without affecting charge.

38. In which modern country would you find the ancient city of Petra?

Answer: Jordan. The rose-red sandstone city was carved by the Nabataeans and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

39. Who wrote the dystopian novel 1984?

Answer: George Orwell. Published in 1949, the book introduced concepts such as Big Brother and thoughtcrime that remain part of political discourse today.

40. What is the deepest known ocean trench on Earth?

Answer: The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Its deepest point, Challenger Deep, reaches about 11,000 metres below sea level.

41. Which treaty formally ended World War I?

Answer: The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919. It imposed heavy reparations on Germany and redrew borders across Europe.

42. Which blood type is generally considered the rarest?

Answer: AB negative. Only about 1% of the population carries it, making blood donations of this type especially valuable.

43. Which Baroque composer wrote The Four Seasons?

Answer: Antonio Vivaldi. The set of four violin concertos depicts spring, summer, autumn, and winter through vivid musical imagery.

44. What is the largest hot desert in the world?

Answer: The Sahara Desert in North Africa. It spans roughly 9.2 million square kilometres — nearly as large as the United States.

45. In chemistry, what does pH measure?

Answer: The acidity or alkalinity of a solution. A pH of 7 is neutral; lower values are acidic and higher values are alkaline.

46. Which country holds the record for the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites?

Answer: Italy, with more than 50 listed sites including Rome, Florence, Venice, and the archaeological areas of Pompeii.

47. What is the approximate speed of sound in air at sea level?

Answer: About 343 metres per second (roughly 767 miles per hour). Temperature and humidity can shift the exact figure slightly.

48. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Answer: Marie Curie. She received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for research on radioactivity, and later won Chemistry in 1911.

49. What is the longest bone in the human body?

Answer: The femur, or thigh bone. It supports the body's weight during standing, walking, and running.

50. Which empire built the citadel of Machu Picchu in the 15th century?

Answer: The Inca Empire. The mountaintop site in Peru served as a royal estate before the Spanish conquest of South America.

Trivia Tips

• Read the full question before answering — general knowledge rounds often hide a clue in the wording.
• Start with the easy section to build momentum, then work through medium and hard without peeking at answers.
• Say answers aloud; verbal recall strengthens memory more than reading silently.
• Mix subjects deliberately so your brain learns to switch contexts, just like a real quiz round.
• For scored rounds with picture questions and fill-in-the-blank challenges, play the General Knowledge quiz on PlayTrivia or try solo mode to track your progress.