This American flag quiz printable asks about the flag of the United States: what is on it, how it changed, and the customs for flying it. Answer on screen, or print a 10-question sheet with its answer key.
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Three sets of questions
What is on the flag asks the stripes, the stars and the union. How it changed runs from the resolution of June 14, 1777, to the flag of 15 stripes at Fort McHenry and the rule for adding stars. Customs asks Flag Day, half-staff and how the flag is hung.
Print it for a class
The page opens on its sheet of all 28 questions: remove any, tick With answer key, then press Print the question sheet. Quiz me on screen asks them one at a time. On screen, each answer comes with a one-line reason and the place it can be checked.
Thirteen stripes for the first states; one star for every state today.
Questions and answers
What do the stars and stripes stand for?
The 13 stripes stand for the thirteen colonies that became the first states, and each of the 50 stars stands for a state.
When is Flag Day?
June 14. It marks the day in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United States.
When is a new star added to the flag?
On the Fourth of July after a new state is admitted. The rule is in Title 4, section 2 of the United States Code.
Which flag had 15 stripes?
The flag set by the act of 1794, with 15 stripes and 15 stars. One of them, the Star-Spangled Banner, flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 and is kept at the National Museum of American History.
All 28 questions with answers
What is on the flag 9
How many stars are on the flag today?Answer: 50. Source: Wikipedia, Flag of the United States and Flag Acts. Read 2026-10-01.
How many stripes does the United States flag have?Answer: 13. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 1; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
The stars are white. What color is the field behind them?Answer: Blue. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 1; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
What colors are the stripes?Answer: Red and white. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 1; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
What do the 13 stripes stand for?Answer: The 13 colonies that became the first states. Source: Wikipedia, Flag of the United States and Flag Acts. Read 2026-10-01.
What does each star stand for?Answer: A state. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 2; Wikipedia, Flag Acts. Read 2026-10-01.
What is the blue field with the stars called?Answer: The union. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 1; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
Which of these is a nickname of the flag?Answer: The Stars and Stripes. Source: United States Code, Title 36, section 110; Wikipedia, Flag Day (United States). Read 2026-10-01.
Which way do the stripes run?Answer: Side to side. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 1; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
Show all 28 questions (19 more)
How it changed 10
The Flag Act of 1794 changed the flag to how many stripes and stars?Answer: 15 stripes and 15 stars. Source: Wikipedia, Flag Acts and Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
The Flag Act of 1818 set the number of stripes atAnswer: 13. Source: Wikipedia, Flag Acts and Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
How many stars did the flag of 1777 have?Answer: 13. Source: Wikipedia, Flag Acts and Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
On what date did the Continental Congress adopt the Stars and Stripes?Answer: June 14, 1777. Source: United States Code, Title 36, section 110; Wikipedia, Flag Day (United States). Read 2026-10-01.
What is the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 called?Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner. Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The Star-Spangled Banner; Wikipedia, Star-Spangled Banner (flag). Read 2026-10-01.
When is a new star added to the flag?Answer: On the Fourth of July after a state is admitted. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 2; Wikipedia, Flag Acts. Read 2026-10-01.
Where is the Star-Spangled Banner flag kept today?Answer: At the National Museum of American History. Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The Star-Spangled Banner; Wikipedia, Star-Spangled Banner (flag). Read 2026-10-01.
Which song is the United States national anthem?Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner. Source: United States Code, Title 36, section 301; Wikipedia, Star-Spangled Banner (flag). Read 2026-10-01.
Who made the 1813 Star-Spangled Banner flag in Baltimore?Answer: Mary Pickersgill. Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The Star-Spangled Banner; Wikipedia, Star-Spangled Banner (flag). Read 2026-10-01.
Who wrote a poem after seeing that flag still flying over Fort McHenry?Answer: Francis Scott Key. Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The Star-Spangled Banner; Wikipedia, Star-Spangled Banner (flag). Read 2026-10-01.
Customs 9
A flag displayed through the night should beAnswer: properly lit. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 6; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
In what year were the words "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance?Answer: 1954. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 4; Wikipedia, Pledge of Allegiance. Read 2026-10-01.
On Memorial Day, how long is the flag flown at half-staff?Answer: Until noon. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 6; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
What does a flag flown with the union down signal?Answer: Dire distress. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 8; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
What does Flag Day mark?Answer: The adoption of the flag in 1777. Source: United States Code, Title 36, section 110; Wikipedia, Flag Day (United States). Read 2026-10-01.
What should be done with a flag too worn to display?Answer: Destroyed in a dignified way. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 8; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
What should the flag never touch?Answer: The ground. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 8; Wikipedia, Flag of the United States. Read 2026-10-01.
When is Flag Day?Answer: June 14. Source: United States Code, Title 36, section 110; Wikipedia, Flag Day (United States). Read 2026-10-01.
When the flag hangs flat against a wall, where should the union be?Answer: At the top, on the left as you look at it. Source: United States Code, Title 4, section 7; Wikipedia, United States Flag Code. Read 2026-10-01.
How this list was compiled: Questions, wrong choices and explanations were written for this site. Each keyed answer was read in two places on 2026-10-01, named in the question's source line. The design, the adding of stars, the Pledge and the customs: United States Code, Title 4, sections 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8, and Title 36, sections 110 (Flag Day) and 301 (the national anthem), read at Cornell's Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/chapter-1. The Star-Spangled Banner: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/making-the-flag.aspx. Wikipedia: Flag of the United States, Flag Acts, Star-Spangled Banner (flag), Flag Day (United States), United States Flag Code, Pledge of Allegiance. The Flag Acts of 1777, 1794 and 1818 rest on two Wikipedia articles and on the present law, because the Smithsonian's page of flag facts refused the request. Licence: own work