165 Fun Middle School Trivia Questions

During the pandemic, my cousins and I became obsessed with trivia. We played it at least weekly on the Nintendo Switch, on JackboxTV, via board games like Trivial Pursuit, and even went as far as to seek out and join random local Facebook events that happened to be hosting Trivia Nights!

Because of how fun and educational trivia questions are for kids (as well as adults!), I’ve compiled a post with some of my favorite middle school trivia questions and answers out there.

Whether you’re looking for trivia questions to play at home with family or on the road to pass the time away, you can use these trivia questions to keep you, your friends, or the kids entertained. AND educated!

This post may contain affiliate links. You won’t be paying a cent more, but in the event of a sale, the small affiliate commission I receive will help keep this blog running/pumping out useful and free content. Thanks a lot!

Table of Contents

Middle School Trivia Questions: MATH AND NUMBERS

How many states made up the United States before Alaska and Hawaii joined? Answer: 48.
The first day of the 20th century was… Answer: Jan. 1, 1901.
How many inches are in a foot? Answer: 12.
How many times does 7 divide into 49? Answer: 7.
What is the name of the shape with five sides? Answer: Pentagon.
You peer through a window into a room and count 30 eyes. If each person has a normal number of eyes, how many people are in the room? Answer: 15.
What is an angle more than 90 degrees known as? Answer: Obtuse angle.
What number is the Roman numeral LII? How about IX? Answer: 52, 9.
How many grams are in a thousand kilograms? Answer: One million.
The interior angles of a triangle always sum to… Answer: 180 degrees.
How many days are there in a leap year? Answer: 366.
How many months have 31 days in them? Answer: 7.
A triangle with 3 unequal sides are called what? Answer: Scalene triangle.
What is 2 cubed, or 2 to the third power? Answer: 8.
What is the formula for calculating the speed of an object? Answer: Speed = distance / time.
What is the equation for calculating the area of a triangle? Answer: Area = (base x height) / 2.
Solve for x: 2x + 4 = 10? Answer: x = 3.
Evaluate the expression: 2(3x + 4) when x = 2? Answer: 20.
What is the name of the shape with six sides? Answer: Hexagon.
What is the next number in the sequence: 2, 4, 6, 8, __? Answer: 10.
If a box contains 5 red marbles, 3 blue marbles, and 2 green marbles, what percentage of the marbles are not red? Answer: 60%.
In a classroom, there are 30 students, and 15 of them are girls. What percentage of the students are boys? Answer: 50%.
A pizza is divided into 8 equal slices. If you eat 3 slices, what percentage of the pizza have you eaten? Answer: 37.5%.

Middle School Trivia Questions: HISTORY

Name the first 4 presidents of the United States of America? Answer: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison.
During the seventh, century, fireworks were invented by which country? Answer: China.
What country did Mexico gain its independence from in the 1800s? Answer: Spain.
Who invented the light bulb? Answer: Thomas Edison.
What are the two main languages spoken in South America? Answer: Spanish and Portuguese.
Which city in the world was the first to be attacked by an atomic bomb? Answer: Hiroshima.
What ancient civilization built the Machu Picchu complex in Peru? Answer: The Incas.
Who invented the cotton gin in 1793? Answer: Eli Whitney.
What was the name of the last Queen of France? Answer: Marie Antoinette.
The modern-day city of Istanbul was known by what name in the 13th century? Answer: Constantinople.
Where did the Olympic games originate? Answer: Greece.
What was the main cause of World War II? Answer: The aggressive actions of Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler.
Who walked on the moon along with Neil Armstrong? Answer: Buzz Aldrin.
What is the month and day when the US gained its independence? Answer: July 4.
Who wrote the book “The Diary of a Young Girl”? Answer: Anne Frank.
Who discovered the theory of gravity? Answer: Sir Isaac Newton.
What was the significance of the Renaissance? Answer: It was a cultural movement in Europe from the 14th to the 17th century. It marked a revival of classical learning, a growth of new scientific discoveries, and a great surge of artistic and architectural creativity.
Who delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech? Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.
Who was Julius Caesar? Answer: A Roman statesman, general, and author who played a critical role in the events that led to the end of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from which country? Answer: France.

Middle School Trivia Questions: SCIENCE

Name the 5 human senses. Answer: Taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight.
Snow, rain, and sleet are all examples of what? Answer: Precipitation.
Which planet is closest to the sun? Answer: Mercury.
What resource covers most of the Earth? Answer: Water.
What is the term for the species that can live on both water and land? Answer: Amphibians.
What are the tissues called which connect bones to muscles? Answer: Tendons.
What do you call a scientist who studies rocks? Answer: Geologist.
What do you call a scientist who studies fossils? Answer: Palaeontologist.
What do you call a scientist who studies plants? Answer: Botanist.
During a storm, which comes first–seeing lightning or hearing thunder? Answer: Lightning because light travels faster than sound.
Name the hardest known material on Earth? Answer: Diamonds.
What are animals without a backbone called? Answer: Invertebrates.
What is the food pipe in our body called? Answer: Esophagus.
Which is the thinnest layer of the Earth? Is it Inner core, Mantle, Crust, or Outer core? Answer: Crust.
What is the boiling point of water in both Fahrenheit and Celsius? Answer: 100 degrees Celsius, 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is the name of the force that causes objects to fall to the ground? Answer: Gravity.
Of all the different types of blood types, which is the rarest? Answer: AB Negative.
Which is the basic unit of all life forms on this planet? Answer: A cell.
What do you call animals that only eat plants? Answer: Herbivores.
What do you call a person that only eat plants? Answer: Vegetarian.
Which body parts continue to grow throughout your entire life? Answer: Ears and nose.
What is the largest organ in the human body? Answer: Skin.
What is the formula for water? Answer: H2O.
What is the largest planet in our solar system? Answer: Jupiter.
What are the three states of matter? Answer: Solid, liquid, and gas.
What is the process by which plants make their own food? Answer: Photosynthesis.
Who discovered the theory of evolution? Answer: Charles Darwin.
Who discovered penicillin? Answer: Alexander Fleming.
What is the name of the process by which water moves through a plant from roots to leaves? Answer: Transpiration.
Who discovered the periodic table? Answer: Dmitri Mendeleev.

Middle School Trivia Questions: GEOGRAPHY

How many continents are there in the world? Answer: 7.
What is the largest continent? Answer: Asia.
What is the smallest continent? Answer: Australia.
Mount Everest is located within which mountain range? Answer: The Himalayas.
How many oceans are there? Answer: Five: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern, and Arctic.
What is the largest U.S. state by landmass? Answer: Alaska.
What is the longest river in the world? Answer: The Nile (in Africa).
Name the country with four letters and ends with an ‘n’? Answer: Iran.
Which state is Mount Rushmore located in? Answer: South Dakota.
Which language is spoken in the Canadian province of Quebec? Answer: French.
What do AM and PM stand for? Answer: Antemeridian and Post meridian.
Where is Yosemite National Park located? Answer: California.
Where is Glacier National park located? Answer: Montana.
Name the capital of Egypt? Answer: Cairo.
Name the capital of Mexico? Answer: Mexico City.
Name the river that flows through Paris? Answer: The Seine.
Which state in the USA is also known as the cheese state? Answer: Wisconsin.
What is the nickname of New York City? Answer: The Big Apple.
What is the northernmost state in the United States? Answer: Alaska.
What is the capital of the United States? Answer: Washington D.C.
What is the name of the largest ocean on Earth? Answer: The Pacific Ocean.
What is the capital of China? Answer: Beijing.
What is the name of the currency used in Europe? Answer: Euro.
What is the name of the largest desert in the world? Answer: The Sahara Desert.
What is the capital city of Texas? Answer: Austin.

Middle School Trivia Questions: VOCABULARY

What is an antonym of the word ‘wild’? Answer: Tame, calm, docile, etc.
What is the term for the study of celestial objects and phenomena beyond Earth’s atmosphere, including stars, planets, and galaxies? Answer: Astronomy.
What is the word for a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government? Answer: Coup.
What term describes a piece of writing that presents the author’s argument, typically with supporting evidence and reasoning? Answer: Essay.
What word refers to the ability to understand and share the feelings of another? Answer: Empathy.
What term describes the gradual wearing away of soil or rock by natural processes such as wind, water, or ice? Answer: Erosion.
What is the term for the state of being unable to read or write? Answer: Illiteracy.
What term describes a written or spoken agreement or promise, typically formal and legally binding? Answer: Contract.
What word means the state of being very poor, with a lack of basic necessities like food and shelter? Answer: Poverty
What is the term for a small, sudden, and violent gust of wind, often associated with thunderstorms? Answer: Squall.
What is the word for a sudden, uncontrolled outburst of emotion or action? Answer: Tantrum.
What word means a group of people living together in a particular place, typically sharing resources and responsibilities? Answer: Community.
What is the word for the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own? Answer: Plagiarism.

Middle School Trivia Questions: FOOD AND DRINK

What vegetable is commonly used to make pickle? Answer: Cucumber.
What type of pasta is shaped like small rice grains and is often used in soups? Answer: Orzo.
Which fast-food restaurant is famous for its golden arches logo? Answer: McDonald’s.
What popular Italian food is made by layering pasta, cheese, and sauce, then baking it in the oven? Answer: Lasagna.
What is the main ingredient in guacamole? Answer: Avocado.
Which fruit from Asia is known as “The King of Fruits” and has a strong odor that people either love or hate? Answer: Durian.
What is the primary ingredient in chocolate? Answer: Cocoa.
Which breakfast cereal is known for its mascot, a leprechaun? Answer: Lucky Charms.
What vegetable is commonly used to make french fries? Answer: Potatoes.
In what country did pizza originate? Answer: Italy.
What is the main ingredient in hummus? Answer: Chickpeas (garbanzo beans).
What sweet, frozen treat is made from fruit juice or flavored water and is often served on a stick? Answer: Popsicle.

Middle School Trivia Questions: MISCELLANEOUS

What kind of mollusk holds a pearl in its shell? Answer: An oyster.
How many bones do sharks have in total? Answer: 0.
A story conveying a moral lesson is called what? Answer: A fable.
Name all of Snow White’s dwarves. Answer: Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Sleepy, and Sneezy.
Who is the creator of the classic book characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? Answer: Mark Twain.
What do you call a baby cow? Answer: A calf.
What does USB stand for? Answer: Universal Serial Bus.
What piece on a chess board moves in an L-shape? Answer: The knight.
Which is the hottest chili pepper in the world? Answer: Carolina Reaper.
Who is known as the king of pop? Answer: Michael Jackson.
Can you name the national dog breed of France? Answer: Poodle.
Name the country that has Unicorn as its national animal? Answer: Scotland.
How many innings are in a standard baseball game? Answer: 9.
How many Toy Story movies are there? Answer: 4.
If you needed braces, what kind of doctor would you visit? Answer: An orthodontist.
Who painted the Mona Lisa? Answer: Leonardo DaVinci.
What is the largest animal in the world? Answer: Blue whale.
What is the tallest animal in the world? Answer: Giraffe.
What is a tomato–a fruit or vegetable? Answer: A fruit.
Whose face is on the penny? Answer: Abraham Lincoln.
Whose face is on a $20 bill? Answer: Andrew Jackson.
How many sides does a stop sign have? Answer: 8.
What is Captain America’s name? Answer: Steve Rogers.
Which type of fish is Nemo? Answer: A Clownfish.
Where do you get sugar from? Answer: Sugarcane.
Name the animal with the largest eyes? Answer: Giant Squid.
What is the name of the sport played at Wimbledon? Answer: Tennis.
What animal species is the only male that gets pregnant? Answer: Seahorse.
Who was the first Disney Princess? Answer: Snow White.
From which country do French fries originate? Answer: Belgium.
What is the color of an emerald? Answer: Green.
What is another name for a female deer? Answer: Doe.
Which bird can learn to mimic human speech? Answer: Parrots.
Who invented the telephone? Answer: Alexander Graham Bell.
Can you name the first female vice president of the United States? Answer: Kamala Harris.
Who wrote the play “Romeo and Juliet”? Answer: William Shakespeare.
Who wrote the novel “The Grapes of Wrath”? Answer: John Steinbeck.
Who discovered electricity? Answer: Benjamin Franklin.
What type of animal is a dolphin? Answer: A mammal, part of the cetacean family.
What is the largest land animal? Answer: The elephant.
What type of animal is a koala? Answer: A marsupial, meaning it belongs to a group of mammals that carry their young in a pouch.
What is the fastest bird in the world? Answer: The Peregrine Falcon (it’s capable of diving at speeds up to 240 mph).
What country invented the ice cream sundae? Answer: The United States.