Printable worksheet
Tuplets worksheet
Free printable tuplets worksheet: triplets in simple time and duplets in compound time. Work out note lengths, name the tuplet and complete bars.
Tuplets worksheet
Sheet #
Name Date Score /
Answer key
Tuplets worksheet · Sheet #
How to use it
- Choose a difficulty and triplets (simple time) or duplets (compound time), then press New worksheet.
- A tuplet fits a different number of notes into the time of a normal group: a triplet puts 3 in the time of 2, a duplet puts 2 in the time of 3.
- To count a bar, give each tuplet the length of the notes it replaces, such as one beat for three eighth-note triplets.
- Show answers to check, or print the answer page.
A tuplet divides a beat in a way the time signature does not normally allow. Simple time divides beats by two, so three notes in one beat is a triplet; compound time divides beats by three, so two notes in one beat is a duplet.
Question types#
- How long is the group? Three eighth notes played as a triplet last as long as one quarter note; two eighth notes played as a duplet last as long as a dotted quarter note.
- How long is one note? In beats, for a single note of a tuplet.
- Name the tuplet. A bar contains one tuplet group, and the question says which beat it starts in; give its name and say how many notes it has and the number of normal notes whose time it takes.
- Complete the bar. Count each tuplet at its real length and add the one note that fills the bar.
Difficulty levels#
- Easy: eighth-note groups only: triplets in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4, or duplets in 6/8 and 9/8.
- Medium: adds rests inside a group, quarter-note groups in the written questions, quarter-note triplets in printed bars (simple time) and 12/8.
- Hard: adds sixteenth-note triplets, sextuplets and quarter-note duplets in printed bars, and half-note and sixteenth-note groups in the written questions.
Triplets, sextuplets and duplets are the cases the worksheet covers. A tuplet is normally marked by a bracket or beam with a number (3, 6 or 2); each question also says which beat the group starts in.
Frequently asked questions
What is a triplet?
Three notes played in the time normally taken by two of the same kind. Three eighth-note triplets last one quarter-note beat; three quarter-note triplets last a half note.
What is a duplet?
Two notes played in the time normally taken by three, used in compound time. Two eighth notes as a duplet last as long as a dotted quarter note, which is one beat in 6/8.
What is a sextuplet?
Six notes in the time of four. Six sixteenth notes as a sextuplet fill one quarter-note beat. They appear only at the hard level.
How do I know how long each tuplet note is?
Divide the length of the group equally. Each eighth-note triplet is a third of a beat in 4/4, and each eighth-note duplet is half of a dotted-quarter beat in 6/8.