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Name That Punctuation Quiz

We give you the punctuation mark, you tell us what it is called.
More generally, these are typographical symbols - not necessarily "punctuation"
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: August 27, 2018
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First submittedApril 13, 2010
Times taken202,435
Average score66.7%
Rating4.45
4:00
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0
 / 24 guessed
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Mark
Name
,
Comma
.
Period
'
Apostrophe
!
Exclamation Point
?
Question Mark
:
Colon
;
Semicolon
&
Ampersand
Mark
Name
/
Slash
\
Backslash
-
Hyphen
^
Caret
Dagger
~
Tilde
Interrobang
"
Quotation Mark
Mark
Name
...
Ellipsis
«
Guillemet
{
Brace
@
At Sign
Bullet
Pilcrow
©
Copyright
£
Pound
+1
Level 35
Jun 3, 2017
Isn't that the Euro not the Pound?
+8
Level 47
Jun 17, 2017
It is the pound. This is Euro: €
+7
Level 75
Jan 17, 2018
Someone should do a quiz on currency symbols. It would be hard but a good learning experience.
+1
Level 43
Jun 6, 2017
too upset to miss backslash of all things... I always just called it "slash" :(
+3
Level 65
Jan 17, 2018
I have always heard that one is a forward slash and the other is a back slash.
+1
Level 68
May 6, 2020
I typed backward slash
+2
Level 20
Aug 20, 2017
I forgot bullet... I've used the caret before, but I had no idea what it was called. Come to think of it, I've used all of these before (except the dagger... and interrobang because it's not on my keyboard and my friends would just think I'm pretentious lol)
+1
Level 62
Oct 25, 2017
When you think you know a lot, you keep learning new things taking these quizzes! ~^{}[]:"/>
+2
Level 29
Nov 14, 2017
If you find this quiz easy, try the harder version here
+1
Level 23
Nov 17, 2017
I kept saying dash instead of backslash
+1
Level 25
Nov 24, 2017
I kept saying multiplication symbol, times symbol, didn’t know it was bullet.
+2
Level 25
Nov 24, 2017
You should accept open curly bracket for brace.
+3
Level 15
Nov 24, 2017
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A INTERROBANG!?
+3
Level 83
Jan 5, 2018
It's a cross between the two punctuation marks that you just used.
+1
Level 75
Jan 17, 2018
Nice one, Lawnmower.
+1
Level 66
Nov 24, 2017
I tried cout() for gullernet but it didn't work. As for bullet, they are not necessarily round. I don't see how that can qualify. It merely depends on the limitations of the software and in html you can format bulleted lists to be graphics, so they can be anything you want really.
+1
Level 71
Aug 21, 2023
Here are four ways that was wrong:

You're too influenced by programming, whereas these are textual punctuation marks (note that "!" isn't also called bang here, "." isn't dot, "~" isn't worm, "*" would probably be asterisk and not star, etc.).

A guillemet («), which you might also know as angle quotes, isn't the same as the C++ insertion operator (<<).

This quiz is about and the name of the marks, not their meaning ("¶" isn't "new paragraph", for example). So even if the semantics of the insertion operator were synonymous with cout(), it wouldn't be the correct answer.

cout() also isn't the meaning of the insertion operator; the operator can be applied to other streams or objects. I don't know enough about C++ to know if cout() can be invoked directly, like that, without an operator or method, but either way a bunch of other classes implement <<

+3
Level 59
Nov 24, 2017
Only got 36%... but at least I got guillemet so I have that going for me, which is nice.
+1
Level 69
Dec 4, 2017
I couldn't spell Ampersand.
+1
Level 84
Jan 9, 2018
I don't know if it is colloquial or not but I would refer to the guillemet as angle quotes.
+1
Level 56
Jan 17, 2018
QM, can you add about or approximate for ~? Technically it's only a tilde if it's over a letter (I think?), which that symbol doesn't do when you type it out. Even if it is still a tilde, it's also used to say that a number you've put is approximate, not definite.
+1
Level 60
Aug 20, 2023
I don't think that's correct. The name isn't always the same as the usage.
+1
Level 47
Jan 17, 2018
I was that 1% who didn't get comma :/
+1
Level 71
Jan 17, 2018
The slash is also called a virgule. Will you accept that going forward?
+1
Level 89
Jan 17, 2018
'virgule' is French for comma.
+1
Level 65
Jan 17, 2018
Man they have big commas!
+1
Level 84
Nov 25, 2018
I learned this in school - I learned it as the / in an and/or situation. I'm probably the only one but I put virgule first before I put slash :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation)
+2
Level 59
Jan 17, 2018
The slash is also known as an oblique.
+1
Level 65
Jan 17, 2018
Or a division sign
+4
Level 89
Jan 17, 2018
Although 'slash' is commonly used in the UK these days (mainly in the giving out of email addresses) I continue to prefer to use oblique, as 'slash' is UK English slang for urinate (as in "I need a slash"). I believe 'Solidus' is a more formal term that can also be employed.

Those of us who can remember dictation as an activity in French classes might remember "Ouvrez les guillemets" as an instruction the teacher gives when asking students to open speech marks.

+1
Level ∞
Jan 17, 2018
Oblique will work now
+1
Level 77
Jan 19, 2018
I (a Brit) am familiar with 'solidus' too.
+2
Level 48
Jan 17, 2018
Could you please allow Asperand for 'at sign', as I think that is the correct name.
+2
Level 75
Jan 17, 2018
I had to look that up and you're correct, it is "one of the many names for the figure @". My new trivia fact for the day. Thank you, Trix.
+3
Level ∞
Jan 17, 2018

It's not really standard usage. But if we are going to coin a new word for it, I prefer strudel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign

"The fact that there is no single word in English for the symbol has prompted some writers to use the French arobase[3] or Spanish and Portuguese arroba, or to coin new words such as asperand,[4] ampersat[5] and strudel,[6] but none of these has achieved wide usage."

+1
Level 71
Dec 12, 2020
The term ampersand is a corruption of 'and (&) per se and'.
+1
Level 69
Jan 17, 2018
I kind of feel like I shouldn't have gotten a couple because I know that a bracket and a brace are different but I still typed bracket. Also I misspelled ellipsis.
+1
Level 28
Jan 17, 2018
The Hyphen could also be an "em dash" or possibly an "en dash"? One is longer than the other and I can't remember which. I'm sure someone in internet-land will put me right!

Good quiz, I like it when I learn stuff as well as showing off what I know!

+2
Level 82
Mar 2, 2022
the em dash is longer! I remember because you can think of the dash being the length of that letter, so an en dash is as long as "n" and em dash is as long as "m" :-)
+1
Level 21
Jan 18, 2018
FINALLY! 100%
+2
Level 52
Jan 19, 2018
Good quiz, thank you, though (being picky here, sorry!) I don't believe they all actually qualify as punctuation. Some (the tilde) are diacritical marks dealing with pronunciation and others are editing marks. But fun nonetheless!
+1
Level 51
Jan 31, 2024
and some are just symbols
+1
Level 63
Jan 20, 2018
I tried "lira" first for the pound sign, as that is where the name comes from (hence the L-like shape) and it's also used for currencies named lira
+3
Level 63
Mar 15, 2019
In the Unicode standard, the symbol £ is called "pound sign" and the symbol ₤ "lira sign".
+1
Level 38
Mar 14, 2018
Why don't you include Dollars , Vertical bar , Brackets , Parentheses , percentage and Angle Brackets
+1
Level 88
Jun 17, 2018
I wrote "space" for the interrobang because that's all I see.
+1
Level 29
Sep 11, 2018
guillemets are also used in chinese. they're for names of books.
+1
Level 15
Dec 13, 2018
AWESOME QUIZ! Didn't get the double pointy brackets.
+1
Level 54
May 21, 2019
I know what an interrobang is, but I have to say that the symbol you have (at least in the font that my browser uses) doesn't look like an interrobang to me.
+1
Level 66
Jun 11, 2019
This is extremely hard english not being my native tongue! In other quizzes it is only a slight problem but here it was tough, you usually don't come across these terms, atleast not written.

I mznaged to squeeze out 18 but dont ask me how.. period took me 4 tries! Point, dot, and misspelling... I ve never been sure about the spelling of comma in english. Question mark was really the only I entered without a shred of a doubt creeping up (wether it be spelling or if it was the official term for it or not.)

happily surprised to see paragraph work for pilcrow, really didnt think it would.

ow and it might be an obscure one for some (atleast here) but I knew ampersand for certain aswell :)

+1
Level 66
Jun 11, 2019
Also got accent circumflex, "^", though we use accent circonflexe. Weird how it is both derived from french but spelled differently.
+1
Level 51
Nov 7, 2019
Missed guillemet because I simply didn't know what it was.
+4
Level 71
Dec 12, 2020
Weak excuse
+1
Level 84
Feb 8, 2020
Solidus and reverse solidus should be accepted for slash and backslash. Those are the official Unicode names for those characters (U+002F and U+005C).

In Unicode, the "Guillemet" (U+00AB) is called simply "LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK", but usually "double angle quote" is good enough.

+1
Level 72
Feb 13, 2020
Guillemet simply means quotation mark. The two punctuation marks are completely interchangeable, although " is used primarily by English speakers.
+1
Level 55
Mar 12, 2020
Can you add the registered trademark symbol? (®)
+2
Level 56
May 19, 2020
Please also accept exclamatory mark
+1
Level 78
Jul 13, 2020
Why?
+5
Level 39
Oct 21, 2020
It's weird that "curly brace" isn't accepted for {, but "curly bracket" then resolves to "brace".
+1
Level 84
Mar 6, 2022
Indeed. You shouldn't be punished for being too specific.
+2
Level 31
Nov 21, 2020
Please accept exclamation mark it is what we call it here in Britain
+1
Level 56
Nov 25, 2020
May we have "stroke" as a type-in for / please? Especially as "slash" is a bit of a neologism.
+1
Level 49
Nov 28, 2020
i thought you write it apostrophy-
+1
Level 55
Dec 8, 2020
Interrobang sounds like a naughty film.
+1
Level 74
Dec 11, 2020
You should accept "et" for ampersand, since it's actually a ligature of the two letters, which mean "and" in Latin.
+1
Level 71
Aug 21, 2023
It's about the name of the mark, not its meaning. As an editor, you wouldn't tell your author "You should write out the word and here instead of using an et."
+1
Level 61
Dec 11, 2020
yay only missed Pilcrow!
+1
Level 71
Dec 12, 2020
I remember 'Sergeant Pilcrow'
+2
Level 40
Dec 12, 2020
I tried "french quote" for guillemet, thinking it was a fair description.
+2
Level 37
Mar 18, 2021
I typed "french quotation" and it worked for me
+1
Level 37
Dec 29, 2020
Funny how I use most of these daily but still can't recall their names!
+1
Level 63
Feb 12, 2021
What about * & ()?
+1
Level 78
Mar 3, 2021
Dear QM, please re-name this quiz Punctuation, Diacritics and Typographical Symbols.
+1
Level 73
May 27, 2021
This whole time I thought that was just a cross. You're telling me it's a DAGGER!?

I guess it makes more sense why they use it for extinct species now :p

+1
Level 60
Nov 22, 2021
Was hoping for a backtick (`).
+1
Level 29
Nov 22, 2021
dagger looks like s cristian cross also I have never seen those
+2
Level 60
Jan 5, 2022
Why isn't "curly brace" accepted?
+1
Level 61
Feb 15, 2022
as a french, i totally know what guillemet is
+1
Level 43
Feb 23, 2022
I typed ampersand as and
+3
Level 54
Mar 2, 2022
Technically, many of these symbols are not "punctuation" marks.
+1
Level 62
Mar 2, 2022
Asterisk?
+2
Level 65
Mar 2, 2022
Interrobang sounds like a cop porn
+3
Level 56
Mar 2, 2022
When I was a copy editor before widespread use of computers a forward slash was always called a virgule. According to Dictionary.com, “ Virgule definition, a short oblique stroke (/) between two words . . .”
+1
Level 28
Mar 9, 2022
Never in my life have I seen an interrobang lol
+1
Level 61
Jun 3, 2022
Can "Left brace" be accepted for Brace?
+1
Level 31
Aug 9, 2022
Shouldn't "backward slash" be accepted for backslash?
+1
Level 45
Nov 30, 2022
surprisingly, i butchered the spelling of "elipse" and it accepted that spelling
+1
Level 46
Dec 2, 2022
Whats the difference between dot and period ?
+2
Level 20
Apr 2, 2023
Imagine typing "dot dot dot"...couldn't be me...
+2
Level 23
May 23, 2023
bro i wrote dot dot dot but it didnt work
+5
Level 44
Aug 10, 2023
The source of my username!
+2
Level 59
Aug 18, 2023
23/24

on August 18th, 2023 I learned what a guillemet was

+1
Level 68
Aug 18, 2023
23/24, I only forgot caret.
+1
Level 40
Aug 20, 2023
Did you know the ampersand was once the 27th letter in the English Alphabet
+1
Level 49
Aug 20, 2023
I typed carot and got it lol
+1
Level 23
Oct 1, 2023
1 out of all

:(

+1
Level 37
Oct 16, 2023
This is an interrobang : ?!
+1
Level 38
Oct 24, 2023
i love pilcrows so much and yet have no clue what they do
+1
Level 56
Nov 14, 2023
i had no idea what the guillemet was... i tried "double back arrow"... 😭
+2
Level 22
Nov 20, 2023
7% of people don't know what a period is? !?ξ€%♪$✕✓‽⸘?¿!
+1
Level 46
Feb 9, 2024
Christianity Symbol for Dagger?
+1
Level 19
Mar 4, 2024
I kept wanting to call the ellipsis an eclipse or epilogue. And I always thought of thought of the guillemete as “Spanish quotation marks” because of my high school Spanish classes