Key Signature Worksheet (Printable, with Answers)

About the Key Signature Worksheet

The Key Signature Worksheet is a free, printable practice sheet for naming keys from their signatures. Each question shows a key signature on an empty staff, and you identify the major or minor key it belongs to. It runs in your web browser with no sign-up, and nothing you enter is uploaded.

Use it to practise reading sharps and flats in treble, bass, alto and tenor clef. You can choose easy, medium or hard levels, ask for major keys, minor keys or both, and print a sheet with its answer key. Each question makes you count the accidentals and apply the rules yourself, so it works well once you know the basic rules.

How to use the Key Signature Worksheet

Open the Difficulty menu and choose easy (up to three sharps or flats), medium (up to five) or hard (all fifteen key signatures, up to seven sharps or flats).
Open the Ask for menu and choose Major and minor keys, Major keys, Minor keys, or Major key and relative minor. The default is a mix, where each question says which one you need to name.
Open the Clef menu and choose Treble, Bass, Alto, Tenor, Treble and bass, or All four clefs. The default is treble.
Open the Questions menu and choose 10 or 20.
Press New worksheet to get a fresh set of key signatures with your chosen settings.
For each question, count the sharps or flats on the staff. Then use the rules in the sections below to find the key.
Press Show answers to check your work, or press Print to print the sheet with its answer key.

Every sheet has a number (Sheet #). The page address keeps your settings and that number (?seed=…), so you can open the same sheet again later or send the link to someone else.

Count the sharps or flats before you name the key. Then apply the matching rule to the count.

For sharps, the last sharp is the leading note, so the major key sits a semitone above it. For flats, the second-to-last flat gives the major key, except one flat, which is F major.

How do I find the major key from sharps?#

Count the sharps, then find the last sharp in the signature. The major key is a semitone (a half step) above that last sharp. For example, a signature with F-sharp and C-sharp has two sharps. The last one is C-sharp, and a semitone above it is D, so the key is D major.

This rule works because the last sharp is the leading note of the major key. If there are no sharps or flats at all, the key is C major, and its relative minor is A minor.

How do I find the major key from flats?#

Look at the second-to-last flat in the signature. Its letter name is the major key. For three flats (B-flat, E-flat and A-flat), the second-to-last is E-flat, so the key is E-flat major. For two flats (B-flat and E-flat), the second-to-last is B-flat, so the key is B-flat major.

One flat is the exception: there is no second-to-last flat, so learn it by heart — one flat (B-flat) is F major. Check the count against the staff every time, because a flat missed on a crowded staff changes the answer.

How do I find the minor key from a key signature?#

Every key signature belongs to one major key and one minor key that share it. This pair is called the relative minor. Start from the major key, then go down three semitones (a minor third) to find the minor. For example, G major and E minor both have one sharp, because E is three semitones below G.

The relative minor starts on the sixth degree of the major scale. So if you know the major key, you can always get the minor by counting down three semitones, and the reverse works too: a minor key’s relative major is three semitones above it.

In what order do sharps and flats appear?#

Sharps always appear in the order F, C, G, D, A, E, B. Flats appear in the reverse order: B, E, A, D, G, C, F. A signature with three sharps therefore contains F-sharp, C-sharp and G-sharp. A signature with three flats contains B-flat, E-flat and A-flat.

Knowing the order lets you check your count against the staff. Each clef also places these accidentals on fixed lines and spaces, so the same signature looks different in treble, bass, alto and tenor clef, but its key does not change.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free and does it need an account?

Yes. The Key Signature Worksheet runs in your web browser, is free, and needs no sign-up. Nothing you enter is uploaded.

Can I print it with the answers?

Yes. Printing gives page 1 with the questions and page 2 with the answer key. The answer key gives the key name, the sharps or flats, and the rule that finds it. A4 and US Letter paper both work, and the sheet has Name, Date and Score lines.

Can I practise clefs other than treble?

Yes. Choose Bass, Alto, Tenor, Treble and bass, or All four clefs in the Clef menu. The same key signature sits on different lines in each clef, so this is good practice for reading a signature in any clef.

What happens if I ask for twenty questions on easy?

Easy covers fewer distinct key signatures than twenty, so the sheet is topped up with neighbouring levels and other clefs. No question repeats on the sheet.

Are the minor keys on the same signatures as the major keys?

Yes. A major key and its relative minor share the same key signature, so the sheet can ask for either one from the same set of accidentals. Use the Ask for menu to focus on major keys, minor keys, or both.

Key Signature Worksheet