QLeft little finger, reaching up from A. The first six letters of this row spell QWERTY. That is how the layout got its name.
WLeft ring finger, reaching up from S. W is the second letter in the word QWERTY.
ELeft middle finger, reaching up from D. The letters E, D and C all belong to that one finger.
RLeft index finger, reaching up from F. Your index finger is the one you point with.
TLeft index finger, up and to the right from F. Each index finger looks after two columns of letters.
YRight index finger, up and to the left from J. Y is the last letter in the word QWERTY.
URight index finger, reaching up from J. U, I and O are three vowels side by side.
IRight middle finger, reaching up from K. Four of the five vowels live on the top row: E, U, I and O.
ORight ring finger, reaching up from L. Do not mix up the letter O with the zero on the number row.
PRight little finger, reaching up from the semicolon. P is the last letter on the top row. You can spell the word typewriter with top row letters alone.
AYour left little finger rests here. A is the only vowel on the home row.
SYour left ring finger rests here. A, S, D and F are the home keys of the left hand.
DYour left middle finger rests here. D, F, G, H, J, K, L is almost ABC order. It is left over from an older layout that ran in ABC order.
FYour left index finger rests here. Most keyboards have a small bump on F, so you can find it without looking.
GLeft index finger, one step to the right from F. G and H are the two middle letters of the home row.
HRight index finger, one step to the left from J. G and H are where your two index fingers meet.
JYour right index finger rests here. Feel for the small bump, the same as on F.
KYour right middle finger rests here. J, K, L and the semicolon are the home keys of the right hand.
LYour right ring finger rests here. L is the last letter on the home row.
ZLeft little finger, reaching down from A. Z is the first letter on the bottom row.
XLeft ring finger, reaching down from S. On many computers, holding Ctrl and pressing X means cut.
CLeft middle finger, reaching down from D. On many computers, holding Ctrl and pressing C means copy.
VLeft index finger, reaching down from F. On many computers, holding Ctrl and pressing V means paste. Cut, copy and paste sit side by side: X, C, V.
BLeft index finger, down and to the right from F. B sits near the middle of the keyboard, just above the space bar.
NRight index finger, down and to the left from J. N and M are next-door neighbours on the keyboard, just as they are in the alphabet.
MRight index finger, reaching down from J. M is the last letter on the bottom row.
Number row 10
1The numbers run from 1 to 9, left to right. Hold Shift and this key types an exclamation mark.
2Hold Shift and a US keyboard types the at sign @. A UK keyboard types a double quote mark instead.
3Hold Shift and a US keyboard types the hash sign #. A UK keyboard types the pound sign £.
4Hold Shift and this key types the dollar sign $.
5Hold Shift for the per cent sign %. Look down from 5 and you see the gap between R and T.
6Hold Shift for the caret ^, which looks like a little hat. Look down from 6 and you see the gap between T and Y.
7Hold Shift for the and sign &. Its long name is the ampersand.
8Hold Shift for the star *. Its long name is the asterisk, and computers use it as a times sign.
9Hold Shift for the opening round bracket. The closing one is next door, on 0.
0On a keyboard, zero comes after 9 and not before 1. Hold Shift for the closing round bracket.
Punctuation keys 11
` (backtick)A tiny mark that leans to the left. Its other name is the grave accent. Hold Shift and a US keyboard types a wavy line called a tilde. A UK keyboard types a ¬ sign instead.
- (hyphen)The short line that joins words like well-known. It is the minus sign too. Hold Shift for the underscore _.
= (equals)Hold Shift and this key types the plus sign +. So plus and equals share one key.
[ (left bracket)Opens a square bracket. Hold Shift for the curly bracket {.
] (right bracket)Closes a square bracket. Hold Shift for the curly bracket }.
\ (backslash)A line that leans to the left. On a US keyboard it sits here, above Enter. On a UK keyboard it lives next to Z. Hold Shift for the upright bar |.
; (semicolon)Your right little finger rests here. It is the only home key that is not a letter. Hold Shift for the colon.
' (apostrophe)The mark in words like it's. Hold Shift and a US keyboard types a double quote mark. A UK keyboard types the at sign @.
, (comma)Right middle finger, reaching down from K. Hold Shift for the less than sign.
. (full stop)Right ring finger, reaching down from L. In America it is called a period. Hold Shift for the greater than sign.
/ (forward slash)Right little finger, reaching down from the semicolon. Hold Shift for the question mark.
Special keys 9
BackspaceRubs out the letter just before the cursor. Some keyboards mark it with a long arrow that points left and no word at all.
TabJumps the cursor along, or moves you to the next box in a form. Some keyboards mark it with arrows and no word.
Caps LockPress it once and every letter comes out as a CAPITAL. Press it again to switch back. For just one capital, hold Shift instead.
EnterStarts a new line, or sends what you typed. On a UK keyboard it is a tall key that covers two rows. Some people call it Return.
Left ShiftHold it down and press a letter to make a capital. Most keyboards have two Shift keys, one at each end of this row. This is the one on the left.
Right ShiftIt does the same job as the left Shift. A Shift key first appeared on a typewriter in 1878. The model before it could only type capitals.
CtrlShort for Control. It does nothing by itself. Hold it and press another key for a shortcut. There is one at each end of the bottom row, and both light up here.
AltShort for Alternate. Like Ctrl, it changes what other keys do. There is one at each end of the space bar. On a UK keyboard the right one is marked Alt Gr.
Space barThe longest key on the keyboard. Tap it with a thumb to put a gap between words.
How this list was compiled: The key order is the United States QWERTY layout described at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY (checked 2026-09-19): number row ` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - =, then Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] \, A S D F G H J K L ; ' and Z X C V B N M , . /. The same page gives the facts in the notes: the name comes from the first six letters of the top row, A is the only vowel on the home row, the run D F G H J K L is left over from an alphabetical layout, and the Remington No. 2 of 1878 was the first typewriter with a Shift key. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_key (checked 2026-09-19) adds that the No. 1 model typed capitals only and that there are typically two Shift keys. Cut, copy and paste on X, C and V, held with Control or with Command, are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut,_copy,_and_paste (checked 2026-09-19). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_key (checked 2026-09-19) gives Alt as the Alternate key of the keyboard standard, one on either side of the space bar. Notes about which letters are vowels or neighbours can be checked against the key order itself. Home keys, the bumps on F and J and the finger for each letter follow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_typing (checked 2026-09-19) and match the chart on this site's type the alphabet page; the comma, full stop and forward slash take the finger of the column above them. Number keys carry no finger note because typing courses do not all agree on them. The United Kingdom differences (the double quote on 2 and the at sign on the apostrophe key swapped, the pound sign on 3, the ¬ sign on the backtick key, the backslash beside Z, a tall Enter key over two rows, Alt Gr on the right, one more key than the 61 typing keys of the US layout, and keys marked with arrows in place of words) are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards (checked 2026-09-19). The drawing shows all 61 typing keys of the US layout. The quiz asks about 56 of them: the two Ctrl keys count as one answer and so do the two Alt keys, and the three plain keys on the bottom row are left out because they differ from one make of computer to the next. Key widths in the drawing are the usual ones in units of one letter key: Backspace 2, Tab 1.5, Caps Lock 1.75, Enter 2.25, left Shift 2.25, right Shift 2.75, space bar 6.25 and 1.25 for the other bottom row keys, so every row is 15 units wide. The row widths and the group sizes were checked, and no hint gives its own answer away. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site as plain rounded rectangles, from the usual key widths of a US keyboard. It copies no photograph and no other drawing. Licence: own work, CC0
How it works
This blank keyboard test shows a QWERTY keyboard with nothing printed on the keys. The page names a key and you tap or click the spot where it lives. Pressing the real key does nothing. In the other game, one key lights up and you say which key it is. Start with the 26 letters. Then add numbers, punctuation and the big keys. You can print the blank keyboard too.
Read the full guide
Three ways to play
Find it, Name it and Study sit under More options. Find it is the main game: the page names a key, like Tap this key: G, and you tap or click the place where G lives. A wrong tap shows the right key. Name it works the other way round. One key lights up and you pick its name from four choices. Study has no score. Tap any key to see its name and a short fact about it. A round ends with a line like 8 of 9.
Start small, then go big
All 56 keys at once is a lot. The sets under Start from, from All 56 keys to Special keys, cut the job down. Letters A to Z asks the 26 letters and nothing else. Home row, Top row and Bottom row take one line at a time, and the other keys turn faint. Left hand letters and Right hand letters split the alphabet the way a typist's hands do. When those feel easy, add the Number row, the Punctuation keys and the Special keys, such as Caps Lock and Backspace.
Print a blank keyboard sheet
Press Print blank to get a worksheet. It has the empty keyboard with a number on every key, a line for each number, and a space for a name and the date. Write the name of each key on its line. Print labelled gives the same sheet with the answers filled in, so you can mark your own work.
Find F and J first. On a real keyboard they have small bumps, and the picture shows the bumps as short lines. Learn those two and the home row follows.
Say the home row out loud: A, S, D, F, then J, K, L and the semicolon. Your eight fingers rest on those eight keys.
On a phone the keys are small. Turn the phone sideways to make them bigger.
When a round ends, the main button practises only the keys you got wrong.
Questions and answers
What is a blank keyboard test?
It is a picture of a keyboard with no letters on the keys. You show that you know the layout by putting each letter, number and mark back in its place. It tests your memory of where the keys are, not how fast you type.
Why are the letters not in ABC order?
The layout is called QWERTY, after the first six letters of the top row. Christopher Latham Sholes worked it out for a typewriter in the early 1870s. A popular story says he mixed up the letters to stop the typewriter jamming. That story may not be true. One trace of an older ABC layout is still there: D, F, G, H, J, K, L on the home row.
Does the picture match my keyboard?
The picture shows the typing keys of a United States keyboard. On a United Kingdom keyboard the 26 letters and the ten numbers sit in the same places. A few other keys move. A UK keyboard has a tall Enter key, puts the backslash next to Z and adds one extra key beside Enter. The facts in Study mode point out these differences.
Why are three keys left plain?
Three keys on the bottom row change from one make of computer to the next, so there is no single right name for them. The quiz skips those three. The two Ctrl keys count as one answer, and so do the two Alt keys. That leaves 56 keys to find.
Can I type the answer?
Yes. Choose Name it, then press Type it. When a letter key lights up, type that letter and press Check. For any other key, type its name, such as comma, space or shift. Capital letters do not matter, and one small slip in a long name is forgiven.
Is my score saved?
No. Nothing about your rounds is kept after you leave the page. After a round, Share score makes a link that holds your score, your time and the group you played. It holds no name and nothing you typed.