How to play
- Press Start. You have 2 minutes 30 seconds for all 25.
- Type an answer, in any order. It counts as soon as it matches, with no need to press Enter, and fills in its row.
- Pause whenever you like; the list is hidden while the clock is stopped. If you leave mid-game, it waits, paused, until you come back.
- When the time is up, the ones you missed fill in, marked as missed.
About the biggest countries
The largest country covers about a ninth of the world’s land, more than one and a half times the second. The top six together hold over two fifths of all land. The 25th is still larger than France and Germany put together.
More about the ranking (names some answers)
Russia is the largest, at 17.1 million km². Canada is second, with more lakes than any other country. Algeria is the largest country in Africa since Sudan split in 2011, and Kazakhstan the largest landlocked one. Australia is the largest country in Oceania, and also a continent in its own right.
What counts
Areas are total areas, land and lakes, as listed by Wikipedia from the UN, the CIA World Factbook and national figures. Territories such as Greenland aren’t countries here, and Antarctica is a continent. A country outside the 25 clears the box with a note.
Third or fourth? (names some answers)
China and the United States are close in size. Counting coastal and territorial waters puts the US ahead; leaving them out, as this list does, puts China third. Either way, typing either fills its own row.
Capitals, accents, spaces and punctuation don’t matter, but the spelling does.
The accepted alternative forms appear here when your quiz ends, so they don’t give any answers away.
| Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|
| Russia | Russian Federation |
| China | People's Republic of China |
| United States | USA, US, United States of America, America |
| DR Congo | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Congo-Kinshasa |
Questions
Why do lists disagree on third place?
The third and fourth largest countries are close in size, and which comes first depends on what is measured. Counting coastal and territorial waters puts one ahead; leaving them out, as this list does, or counting land alone, puts the other ahead.
More to play
- Countries of the World: Type every country you can before the clock runs out.
- Capitals of the World: Name the capital of every country before the clock runs out.
- Periodic Table: Name every chemical element before the clock runs out.
- Element Symbols: Name the chemical element behind every symbol.
- Flags of the World: Name the country from its flag.
- Scrambled Countries: Unscramble the letters to find the country.
- Scrambled Capitals: Unscramble the letters to find the capital city.
- Greek Alphabet: Name all 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, from their shapes.
- NATO Phonetic Alphabet: Name the code word for every letter, A to Z.
- 100 Most Common English Words: Name the 100 words that turn up most often in classic novels.
- Planets: Name the eight planets of the solar system in one minute.
- Olympian Gods: Name the twelve gods of Mount Olympus from what they ruled.
- English Monarchs: Name every king and queen of England since 1066.
- Zodiac Signs: Name the twelve signs of the zodiac from their dates.
- Best Picture Winners: Name every film that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- All quizzes
- El Trivia home