Capital Letter Typing Lessons

Type lines of proper names; each note says which Shift key the capitals take.

Type each word and press space after it. No timer. The run ends with the text. Atlanta, Boise, Springfield. Jefferson City, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City. UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan. Sacramento, not Los Angeles, is the capital of California. Carson City, Concord, Trenton. ME MD MA MI MN MS Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Nevada, South Carolina, New Hampshire, South Dakota. Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Lansing, Jackson, Helena. Montana, Florida, Nebraska, Georgia. Honolulu is the capital of Hawaii and Boise is the capital of Idaho. Topeka, Frankfort, Baton Rouge.
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No timer: the run ends with the text, or when you press Finish. Words per minute is correct characters divided by five; accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes.

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Next step Capitals on ordinary words: lesson 8 of the advanced setShift again: the symbols above the numbers

All 53 lines

Left Shift only 8

  • Hartford, Honolulu, Indianapolis. Left Shift for H, H and I.
  • Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois. Left Shift for H, I and I.
  • Indiana, Iowa, Kansas. Left Shift for I, I and K.
  • Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine. Left Shift for K, L and M.
  • Lansing, Jackson, Helena. Left Shift for L, J and H.
  • Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan. Left Shift for M, M and M.
  • Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri. Left Shift for M, M and M.
  • Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix. Left Shift for M, J and P.

Right Shift only 9

  • Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas. Right Shift for A, A, A and A.
  • Atlanta, Boise, Springfield. Right Shift for A, B and S.
  • Augusta, Annapolis, Boston. Right Shift for A, A and B.
  • California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware. Right Shift for C, C, C and D.
  • Carson City, Concord, Trenton. Right Shift for C, C, C and T.
  • Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Right Shift for F, S and S.
  • Sacramento, Denver, Dover, Tallahassee. Right Shift for S, D, D and T.
  • Santa Fe, Albany, Raleigh. Right Shift for S, F, A and R.
  • Topeka, Frankfort, Baton Rouge. Right Shift for T, F, B and R.
Show all 53 lines (36 more)

Both Shift keys in turn 16

  • Jefferson City, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City. Left Shift for J, O and L. Right Shift for C, C, S and C.
  • Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Left Shift for J, U and N. Right Shift for S.
  • Lincoln, Bismarck, Harrisburg, Columbus. Left Shift for L and H. Right Shift for B and C.
  • Little Rock, Des Moines, Saint Paul. Left Shift for L, M and P. Right Shift for R, D and S.
  • Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Left Shift for M and M. Right Shift for V and E.
  • Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Left Shift for M. Right Shift for T, W and T.
  • Montana, Florida, Nebraska, Georgia. Left Shift for M and N. Right Shift for F and G.
  • Nashville, Austin, Montpelier, Richmond. Left Shift for N and M. Right Shift for A and R.
  • Nevada, South Carolina, New Hampshire, South Dakota. Left Shift for N, N and H. Right Shift for S, C, S and D.
  • New Jersey, Tennessee, New Mexico, Texas. Left Shift for N, J, N and M. Right Shift for T and T.
  • New York, Vermont, Ohio, Virginia. Left Shift for N, Y and O. Right Shift for V and V.
  • North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island. Left Shift for N, N and I. Right Shift for C, D and R.
  • Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, West Virginia. Left Shift for O and O. Right Shift for W, W and V.
  • Olympia, Charleston, Madison, Cheyenne. Left Shift for O and M. Right Shift for C and C.
  • Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Utah, Wyoming. Left Shift for P and U. Right Shift for W and W.
  • Providence, Salem, Pierre, Columbia. Left Shift for P and P. Right Shift for S and C.

Sentences with proper names 12

  • Albany is the capital of New York. Left Shift for N and Y. Right Shift for A.
  • Augusta is in Maine and Montpelier is in Vermont. Left Shift for M and M. Right Shift for A and V.
  • Austin, Texas and Tallahassee, Florida are both state capitals. Right Shift for A, T, T and F.
  • Carson City, Jefferson City, Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City all end in City. Left Shift for J, O and L. Right Shift for C, C, C, C, S, C and C.
  • Charleston is in West Virginia and Columbia is in South Carolina. Right Shift for C, W, V, C, S and C.
  • Four state names begin with New, as in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York. Left Shift for N, N, H, N, J, N, M, N and Y. Right Shift for F.
  • Honolulu is the capital of Hawaii and Boise is the capital of Idaho. Left Shift for H, H and I. Right Shift for B.
  • Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Left Shift for J. Right Shift for A.
  • Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the four planets nearest the Sun. Left Shift for M and M. Right Shift for V, E and S.
  • Monday follows Sunday, and Saturday follows Friday. Left Shift for M. Right Shift for S, S and F.
  • Pierre is in South Dakota and Bismarck is in North Dakota. Left Shift for P and N. Right Shift for S, D, B and D.
  • Sacramento, not Los Angeles, is the capital of California. Left Shift for L. Right Shift for S, A and C.

Caps Lock on: state abbreviations 8

  • AL AK AZ AR CA CO Caps Lock on, no Shift: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado.
  • CT DE FL GA HI ID Caps Lock on, no Shift: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho.
  • IL IN IA KS KY LA Caps Lock on, no Shift: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana.
  • ME MD MA MI MN MS Caps Lock on, no Shift: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi.
  • MO MT NE NV NH NJ Caps Lock on, no Shift: Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey.
  • NM NY NC ND OH OK Caps Lock on, no Shift: New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma.
  • OR PA RI SC SD TN TX Caps Lock on, no Shift: Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas.
  • UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Caps Lock on, no Shift: Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

How this list was compiled: 33 lines of proper names (the seven days, the eight planets, the 50 US states and their 50 capital cities), 12 sentences written for this page and 8 lines of the states' two-letter postal abbreviations. State names, abbreviations and capitals are from the table of states at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States, read 2026-10-02: the table gave 50 rows, and every state and capital named in a sentence was checked against the same table. The note beside each line says which Shift key each capital takes, worked out from this site's key map for touch typing on QWERTY: the left Shift for a letter typed by the right hand, the right Shift for a letter typed by the left. That pairing agrees letter for letter with the United States layout file of the free KTouch typing tutor, https://invent.kde.org/education/ktouch/-/raw/master/data/keyboardlayouts/us.xml (read 2026-10-02). That a keyboard has two Shift keys and a Caps Lock key is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_key, read 2026-10-02. No month name is used. Licence: own work; names of places, days and planets are facts

How it works

Capital letter typing lessons on words that really take capitals: the seven days, the eight planets, the 50 US states and their capital cities. Each line is marked left Shift, right Shift or both.

Read the full guide

Keyboard practice for shift keys

In touch typing the hand that is not typing the letter holds Shift. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. takes the right Shift three times, because F and S belong to the left hand. Under More options, Practise offers Left Shift only, Right Shift only or Both Shift keys in turn.

A typing speed test, all caps

For a typing speed test all caps, open More options and pick Caps Lock on: state abbreviations and 30 s or 60 s. Turn Caps Lock on and type the fifty two-letter codes with no Shift key at all.

  • The comma after each name needs no Shift, so the hand has time to change sides.

Questions and answers

Which Shift key do I use for a capital letter?

The one on the other side from the letter. A capital typed by the right hand, such as M or J, takes the left Shift. One typed by the left hand, such as A or S, takes the right Shift.

When is Caps Lock used instead of Shift?

For a run of capitals, such as the state codes AL AK AZ. Shift is held for one letter and let go, while Caps Lock stays on until it is pressed again. The Caps Lock lines here use no Shift key.

Are the lessons timed?

Only if you choose. The page opens on No timer, and a run ends when the lines do or when you press Finish. Under More options, 30 s and 60 s give a clocked run with WPM and accuracy.

More tests

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