Printable worksheet
Interval Identification Worksheet
Free interval identification worksheet: name the number and quality of intervals on the staff. Easy to hard, new sheet every click, printable with answers.
Interval Identification Worksheet
Sheet #
Name Date Score /
Answer key
Interval Identification Worksheet · Sheet #
About the Interval Identification Worksheet
This interval identification worksheet gives you a printable set of questions where you name the number and quality of intervals written on a staff. It runs in your web browser, is free, and needs no sign-up.
Each sheet has ten or twenty questions with no repeats, and you can choose easy, medium or hard. Questions are written melodically (one note after another) or harmonically (stacked together), so you practise both ways of reading an interval. It suits a music theory class, a piano lesson, or a solo study session where you want to check how far apart two notes are.
How to use the Interval Identification Worksheet
- Choose a difficulty: easy, medium or hard.
- Choose the Name option. Pick “Number only” to name the number (such as 3rd), or “Number and quality” to add major, minor, perfect, augmented or diminished. “Number only” lets you practise the counting step by itself before you add quality.
- Choose the Direction: Ascending (melodic), Descending (melodic), Harmonic (together) or Mixed.
- Choose the Clef (treble, bass, or treble and bass) and the Questions menu (10 or 20).
- Press “New worksheet” for a fresh set.
- Work out each answer. Count the letter names for the number, then count semitones for the quality.
- Press “Show answers” to check, or press “Print”.
Printing gives two pages: page 1 with the questions and page 2 with the answer key. A4 and US Letter both work. The sheet has Name, Date and Score lines for classroom or homework use. Each sheet has a sheet number in the corner, and the page address keeps your settings and that number (?seed=…), so you can reopen or share the same set.
Start with Number only on Easy to practise counting letter names first. Ignore sharps and flats when you count: C up to E is a 3rd even if one note is sharpened. Save quality for later, then compare the semitone count with the major scale built on the lower note.
Use the answer key to check your method, not only your answers.
How do you find the number of an interval?#
Count the letter names from the lower note up to the higher note, counting both ends. Ignore sharps and flats for this step. C up to E spans C, D, E, so it is a 3rd, whatever accidentals either note carries.
Two notes with the same letter, such as C and C-sharp, count as a unison. The sharp changes the quality later, not the number.
How do you find the quality of an interval?#
Count the semitones, then compare the count with the major scale built on the lower note. Major and perfect intervals match that scale. A 3rd of 4 semitones is major, and a 3rd of 3 semitones is minor, so E up to G (3 semitones) is a minor 3rd.
2nds, 3rds, 6ths and 7ths can be major or minor. Unisons, 4ths, 5ths and octaves are perfect when they match the major scale. The answer key explains both the letter count and the semitone count for every item, so you can see where a mistake happened.
What makes an interval augmented or diminished?#
An augmented interval is one semitone larger than major or perfect. A diminished interval is one semitone smaller than perfect, or two semitones smaller than major (one smaller than minor).
For example, C to F-sharp is an augmented 4th (6 semitones), and C-sharp to F is a diminished 4th (4 semitones). The letter count gives the number in both cases; only the semitones change the quality.
Does it matter whether the interval goes up or down?#
The name stays the same size either way, but you always measure from the lower note up to the higher one. On the descending sheets the notes are written high to low, so find the lower note first, then work out the interval.
What changes between easy, medium and hard?#
Easy uses natural notes only, with 2nds to octaves that are major, minor or perfect. The tritone is left out at this level.
Medium lets notes carry a sharp or flat, but still uses only major, minor and perfect intervals. Hard adds augmented and diminished intervals, so you may meet double sharps and double flats.