Circle of Fifths Quiz

Tap or click the segment where each key or signature belongs on a blank circle.

Circle of Fifths Quiz

Name Date

Tap D-flat major / C-sharp major

1 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Outer: sharps and flats · Middle: major keys · Inner: minor keys

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Write the name of each numbered segment.Answer key

  1. C major
  2. G major
  3. D major
  4. A major
  5. E major
  6. B major / C-flat major
  7. F-sharp major / G-flat major
  8. D-flat major / C-sharp major
  9. A-flat major
  10. E-flat major
  11. B-flat major
  12. F major
  13. A minor
  14. E minor
  15. B minor
  16. F-sharp minor
  17. C-sharp minor
  18. G-sharp minor / A-flat minor
  19. D-sharp minor / E-flat minor
  20. B-flat minor / A-sharp minor
  21. F minor
  22. C minor
  23. G minor
  24. D minor
  25. No sharps or flats
  26. 1 sharp
  27. 2 sharps
  28. 3 sharps
  29. 4 sharps
  30. 5 sharps / 7 flats
  31. 6 sharps / 6 flats
  32. 5 flats / 7 sharps
  33. 4 flats
  34. 3 flats
  35. 2 flats
  36. 1 flat

Drawn by code for this site: 36 plain ring segments and a pointer. Licence: own work.

Each segment is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a segment is answered.

Next step Next: label the parts of a pianoAnother set to know by heart: Alfa to Zulu

All 36 segments on the diagram

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Major keys (middle ring) 12

  1. C major No sharps or flats. Its relative minor is A minor. Every other key is counted from here: clockwise for sharps, counterclockwise for flats.
  2. G major One sharp (F-sharp). Its relative minor is E minor.
  3. D major Two sharps (F-sharp and C-sharp). Its relative minor is B minor.
  4. A major Three sharps (F-sharp, C-sharp and G-sharp). Its relative minor is F-sharp minor.
  5. E major Four sharps (F-sharp, C-sharp, G-sharp and D-sharp). Its relative minor is C-sharp minor.
  6. B major / C-flat major B major has five sharps. Written as C-flat major the same notes take seven flats. Relative minor: G-sharp minor, or A-flat minor.
  7. F-sharp major / G-flat major F-sharp major has six sharps. Written as G-flat major the same notes take six flats. Relative minor: D-sharp minor, or E-flat minor.
  8. D-flat major / C-sharp major D-flat major has five flats. Written as C-sharp major the same notes take seven sharps. Relative minor: B-flat minor, or A-sharp minor.
  9. A-flat major Four flats (B-flat, E-flat, A-flat and D-flat). Its relative minor is F minor.
  10. E-flat major Three flats (B-flat, E-flat and A-flat). Its relative minor is C minor.
  11. B-flat major Two flats (B-flat and E-flat). Its relative minor is G minor.
  12. F major One flat (B-flat). Its relative minor is D minor.

Relative minors (inner ring) 12

  1. A minor Relative minor of C major. So its key signature has no sharps or flats.
  2. E minor Relative minor of G major. So its key signature has one sharp (F-sharp).
  3. B minor Relative minor of D major. So its key signature has two sharps (F-sharp and C-sharp).
  4. F-sharp minor Relative minor of A major. So its key signature has three sharps (F-sharp, C-sharp and G-sharp).
  5. C-sharp minor Relative minor of E major. So its key signature has four sharps (F-sharp, C-sharp, G-sharp and D-sharp).
  6. G-sharp minor / A-flat minor G-sharp minor is the relative minor of B major (five sharps). A-flat minor is the relative minor of C-flat major (seven flats). Both sound the same.
  7. D-sharp minor / E-flat minor D-sharp minor is the relative minor of F-sharp major (six sharps). E-flat minor is the relative minor of G-flat major (six flats). Both sound the same.
  8. B-flat minor / A-sharp minor B-flat minor is the relative minor of D-flat major (five flats). A-sharp minor is the relative minor of C-sharp major (seven sharps). Both sound the same.
  9. F minor Relative minor of A-flat major. So its key signature has four flats (B-flat, E-flat, A-flat and D-flat).
  10. C minor Relative minor of E-flat major. So its key signature has three flats (B-flat, E-flat and A-flat).
  11. G minor Relative minor of B-flat major. So its key signature has two flats (B-flat and E-flat).
  12. D minor Relative minor of F major. So its key signature has one flat (B-flat).

Sharps and flats (outer ring) 12

  1. No sharps or flats An empty key signature. It belongs to C major and A minor, which use only the white keys of a piano.
  2. 1 sharp One sharp (F-sharp). The key signature of G major and E minor.
  3. 2 sharps Two sharps (F-sharp and C-sharp). It is the key signature of D major and B minor.
  4. 3 sharps Three sharps (F-sharp, C-sharp and G-sharp). It is the key signature of A major and F-sharp minor.
  5. 4 sharps Four sharps (F-sharp, C-sharp, G-sharp and D-sharp). It is the key signature of E major and C-sharp minor.
  6. 5 sharps / 7 flats Five sharps for B major and G-sharp minor. Or seven flats for C-flat major and A-flat minor. The two spellings add up to 12.
  7. 6 sharps / 6 flats Six sharps for F-sharp major and D-sharp minor. Or six flats for G-flat major and E-flat minor. The two spellings add up to 12.
  8. 5 flats / 7 sharps Five flats for D-flat major and B-flat minor. Or seven sharps for C-sharp major and A-sharp minor. The two spellings add up to 12.
  9. 4 flats Four flats (B-flat, E-flat, A-flat and D-flat). It is the key signature of A-flat major and F minor.
  10. 3 flats Three flats (B-flat, E-flat and A-flat). It is the key signature of E-flat major and C minor.
  11. 2 flats Two flats (B-flat and E-flat). It is the key signature of B-flat major and G minor.
  12. 1 flat One flat (B-flat). The key signature of F major and D minor.

How this list was compiled: Key signatures, the order of sharps and flats, the 15 major keys and the three pairs of keys that sound the same: Robert Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom (University of Puget Sound), section 2.3 Major Key Signatures, https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/MajorKeySignatures.html, read 2026-09-19. Relative minors (same key signature, keynote three half steps below the major): the same book, section 3.2 Minor Key Signatures, https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/MinorKeySignatures.html, read 2026-09-19. The order of the 12 positions, the direction (clockwise ascends by fifths) and the history of the drawing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths, read 2026-09-19. Every segment was also worked out by script from the line of fifths and had to match the hand-written table. Hints and notes were written for this site. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn by code for this site: 36 plain ring segments and a pointer. The layout, with the top position for the key with no sharps or flats and fifths running clockwise, is the standard one and no artwork was borrowed. Licence: own work

How it works

This circle of fifths quiz starts from a blank circle with C major at the top. The middle ring holds the major keys, the inner ring their relative minors and the outer ring the sharps or flats. Tap the segment each question names.

Read the full guide

Find it, Name it and Study

Find it names a key, such as E-flat major or 3 sharps, and you tap its segment. Name it, under More options, lights a segment and asks what goes there, with 4 choices from the same ring or a text box under Type it. A wrong answer shows the right one. Study writes every name in: tap a segment to read its key.

One ring at a time

A round is one ring of 12, and the quiz opens on the major keys: clockwise from C they are G, D, A and E, and counterclockwise F, B-flat, E-flat and A-flat. Take the sharps and flats next; Start from lists the rings. Their answers read 3 sharps or 2 flats: each step clockwise from the top adds one sharp, and each step counterclockwise adds one flat. Leave the relative minors for last, because each one is worked out from the major key beside it.

Three positions with two names

At the bottom of the circle the sharp keys and the flat keys overlap. Five o'clock is B major with five sharps, or C-flat major with seven flats. Six o'clock is F-sharp major or G-flat major, with six of each. Seven o'clock is D-flat major with five flats, or C-sharp major with seven sharps. Each pair sounds the same and is written differently, which is how 15 major key signatures fit into 12 positions. These segments show both names, and either one counts when you type.

  • Learn the order of sharps as one string: F, C, G, D, A, E, B. The order of flats is the same string backward: B, E, A, D, G, C, F.
  • Sharp keys: the last sharp in the signature sits a half step below the keynote. Three sharps end on G-sharp, so the key is A major.
  • Flat keys: the second-to-last flat names the key. Four flats are B, E, A and D, so the key is A-flat major. F major, with one flat, has to be memorized.
  • In the text box, spell sharps and flats as words: F sharp minor, B flat major. Bb also works for a flat. The box ignores the # sign, so F# is read as plain F.

Questions and answers

What order do the keys go in on the circle of fifths?

Clockwise from the top the major keys run C, G, D, A, E, B, F-sharp, D-flat, A-flat, E-flat, B-flat and F. Each step clockwise is a perfect fifth higher, and it adds one sharp or removes one flat. Counterclockwise, each step is a perfect fourth higher, so the drawing is sometimes called the circle of fourths.

How do I find the relative minor of a major key?

Go down three half steps from the keynote of the major key. C major gives A minor, G major gives E minor and E-flat major gives C minor. The two keys share one key signature, so they sit in the same slice of the circle: the major in the middle ring and its minor in the inner ring.

Can I print a blank circle of fifths?

Yes. Print blank gives the empty circle with a number in each of the 36 segments and a numbered line for every answer. Print labelled gives the same sheet filled in. Numbers 1 to 12 are the major keys clockwise from the top, 13 to 24 the relative minors and 25 to 36 the key signatures.

Who drew the first circle of fifths?

The first known diagram is in the Grammatika of 1677 by the composer and theorist Mykola Dyletsky. The German composer Johann David Heinichen drew one independently in 1711 and called it the Musical Circle. In 1737 David Kellner proposed a second, inner circle for the relative minor keys, which is the layout this quiz uses.

Where were the keys and signatures checked?

Against Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom, an open textbook by Robert Hutchinson at the University of Puget Sound, and the Wikipedia article on the circle of fifths, on the date at the bottom of this page.

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