You do not lose a capitals quiz on France, Japan or Egypt. You lose it on four specific categories: second-city traps, hard spellings, small countries you skipped, and recent changes. Here is each, with the entries worth committing to memory.
Second-city traps
The capital is not the largest or most famous city. Learn these cold: Ankara (Turkey), Canberra (Australia), Brasília (Brazil), Abuja (Nigeria), Bern (Switzerland), Ottawa (Canada), Wellington (New Zealand), Washington, D.C. (United States), Astana (Kazakhstan), Naypyidaw (Myanmar), Rabat (Morocco), Dodoma (Tanzania), Yamoussoukro (Côte d'Ivoire), Islamabad (Pakistan), Pretoria (South Africa). Our full guide on capitals that aren't the largest city explains why each one is the way it is.
Hard to spell
- Reykjavík — Iceland
- Nuku'alofa — Tonga
- Ouagadougou — Burkina Faso
- Yamoussoukro — Côte d'Ivoire
- Antananarivo — Madagascar
- Ljubljana — Slovenia
- Bishkek — Kyrgyzstan
- Thimphu — Bhutan
- Chișinău — Moldova
- Ngerulmud — Palau
- Podgorica — Montenegro
- Nouakchott — Mauritania
For spelling, break the word into syllables and say it aloud a few times. Reykjavík is "RAKE-yah-veek"; Ouagadougou is "WAH-guh-DOO-goo"; Antananarivo is "an-tuh-NAN-uh-REE-voh". Once the sound is fixed, the spelling usually follows.
Small countries you skipped
- Palau — Ngerulmud (one of the least populous capitals on Earth)
- Nauru — no official capital; Yaren is the de facto seat of government
- Marshall Islands — Majuro
- Kiribati — Tarawa (specifically South Tarawa)
- Micronesia — Palikir
- Vanuatu — Port Vila
- Samoa — Apia
- Tuvalu — Funafuti
- Comoros — Moroni
- São Tomé and Príncipe — São Tomé
- Liechtenstein — Vaduz
- San Marino — City of San Marino
- Andorra — Andorra la Vella (the highest capital in Europe)
- Brunei — Bandar Seri Begawan
Recently changed or renamed
Kazakhstan's capital was Astana, then Nur-Sultan (2019), then Astana again (2022). Swaziland became Eswatini in 2018, with capitals Mbabane and Lobamba. Turkey now uses the spelling Türkiye at the UN. Burma is Myanmar to most governments, with the capital Naypyidaw since 2005. Keep half an eye on the news — Indonesia is in the process of moving its capital from Jakarta to a new city called Nusantara on Borneo.
Guess the Capital covers all 194 with a continent filter, so you can hammer the region or category you are weakest on.
Take the quiz →One-country-per-continent hardest picks
- Europe — Vaduz (Liechtenstein) or the City of San Marino.
- Africa — Yamoussoukro (Côte d'Ivoire) or Gitega (Burundi's capital since 2019, replacing Bujumbura).
- Asia — Naypyidaw (Myanmar) or Thimphu (Bhutan).
- Oceania — Ngerulmud (Palau) or Yaren (Nauru).
- Americas — Belmopan (Belize) or Sucre (Bolivia).