Free printable shapes by number of sides chart
Grades K–4Triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon and everything up to a dodecagon — sorted by how many sides each one has. Print it for the wall, or add sides one at a time below and watch the name change.
Tap the chart to open it at full size
Add a side and see what it becomes
Drag the slider from three sides up to twelve. Every side gets a green number and every corner a purple dot, so a child can count along rather than guess.
The thing worth noticing is that the two counts are always the same. A shape with seven sides has seven corners, every time, because each corner is where two sides meet and each side ends at two corners. Children often expect one to be larger.
Three is where it starts, and it is worth stopping there for a moment. Two straight lines cannot close up to make a shape, so a triangle is the simplest polygon there is — and no amount of trying will produce a two-sided one.
- Its name
- Hexagon
- Sides and corners
- 6 sides · 6 corners
- Angles add up to
- 720°
Count the green numbers. Sides and corners always match, however many there are.
How to use this shapes chart at home
Count sides by touching, not looking. Put a finger on each side in turn and say the number out loud. Counting by eye means going round twice or missing one, and on an octagon that happens to most adults too.
Then count the corners and compare. Children are often surprised the two numbers match, and noticing it themselves is worth more than being told. It is also the first real property they discover rather than memorize.
Go hunting for the unusual ones. Stop signs are octagons, some paving slabs and honeycomb cells are hexagons, and a fifty-pence coin is a heptagon. The rare names stick when they are attached to something real.
The names carry the numbers
Penta is five, hexa is six, hepta is seven, octa is eight, deca is ten. These are Greek number words, and once a child spots the pattern half the list stops needing to be memorized.
Octagon and octopus is the easiest link. Decade and decagon both mean ten. Pentagon shows up as a building shaped like one. Hooks like these do more than repetition does.
Triangle and quadrilateral are the odd ones out, and it is worth saying so — they come from Latin rather than Greek. Nobody says trigon, though technically it would be consistent.
What makes something a polygon
Three conditions: it must be flat, it must be closed with no gaps, and every side must be straight. Fail any one and it is not a polygon.
That rules out circles and ovals, because their edges curve. It rules out an arrow shape drawn with a gap in the outline, because it is not closed. And it rules out anything three-dimensional, which is why a cube is made of polygons rather than being one.
Checking those three conditions is a better test than trying to recall a name, and it works on shapes a child has never seen before.
Where shape names usually go wrong
Miscounting sides on the larger shapes. Touching each side while counting fixes almost all of it.
Expecting corners and sides to differ. They never do on a polygon.
Not recognizing an irregular version. A stretched, lopsided six-sided shape is still a hexagon — only the number of sides decides the name.
Calling a curved shape a polygon. Circles, ovals and semicircles are none of these, because a polygon needs straight sides all the way round.
After the chart goes up
A chart explains the idea but gives a child nothing to do. These do the rest.
- geometry at Mathify Kids — every topic in this area, sorted by grade.
- naming 2D shapes worksheets — printable practice.
- perimeter worksheets — the next step once this is solid.
- types of angles worksheets — more practice in the same area.
Everything at this level: Kindergarten math · Grade 1 math · Grade 2 math · Grade 3 math · Grade 4 math
Charts that pair with this one
Charts that work well printed alongside this one.
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Basic 2D Shapes chart
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Types of Quadrilaterals chart
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Polygon Ladder Chart chart
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Angles chart
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Geometry chart
Last reviewed
Questions parents ask
What is a polygon?
A closed flat shape made only of straight sides. Closed means there are no gaps, and straight rules out anything curved — so a circle is not a polygon, and neither is a shape with a piece missing from its outline.
What are the names of shapes by number of sides?
Three sides is a triangle, four a quadrilateral, five a pentagon, six a hexagon, seven a heptagon, eight an octagon, nine a nonagon, ten a decagon, eleven a hendecagon and twelve a dodecagon. From about seven onwards, mathematicians often just say 7-gon or 12-gon instead.
Do shapes always have the same number of sides and corners?
Yes, for any polygon. Each corner is a meeting point of two sides and each side joins two corners, so the counts always match. A shape with nine sides has nine corners, no exceptions.
Why is there no shape with two sides?
Because two straight lines cannot enclose a space. They either cross once and carry on, or run parallel and never meet. You need at least three to close a shape, which is why the triangle is the simplest polygon.
What is the difference between a regular and an irregular polygon?
A regular polygon has all sides the same length and all angles equal — the shapes drawn above are all regular. An irregular one has the same number of sides but they are not equal. A squashed six-sided shape is still a hexagon.
What grade is this shapes chart for?
Kindergarten through Grade 4. Naming shapes by counting sides starts in Kindergarten, the less common names arrive around Grade 3, and sorting by properties by Grade 4.
Is this shapes chart free to print?
Yes. Open it full size and print as many copies as you need for home or a classroom, with no account and no watermark. Reselling it or re-hosting the file elsewhere is not allowed — link to this page instead.