Capital Cities Around the World Word Search

About this puzzle

Fourteen capital cities from six continents: Paris, Madrid, Oslo and Dublin in Europe; Tokyo, Seoul and Hanoi in Asia; Cairo and Nairobi in Africa; Ottawa in North America; Lima and Brasília in South America; and Canberra and Wellington in Oceania. Several are not their country's largest city, which makes the list a good geography quiz as well as a puzzle.

The default layout is Hard on a 15×15 grid. Easy, Medium and Hard each use their own checked layout of the same words, and every one can be printed in standard or large print on US Letter or A4.

Word notes

Cairo

Egypt's capital lies on the Nile, close to the Pyramids of Giza.

Ottawa

Capital of Canada (not Toronto).

Lima

Peru's capital, founded by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1535.

Nairobi

Kenya's capital has a national park within the city limits, where giraffes graze with skyscrapers in the background.

Canberra

Capital of Australia (not Sydney).

Oslo

Norway's capital sits at the head of the Oslofjord.

Seoul

South Korea's capital; its wider metropolitan area is home to about half of the country's population.

Brasilia

A planned city that became Brazil’s capital in 1960.

Wellington

Capital of New Zealand.

Try this after the puzzle

Write each capital on a slip of paper with its country on the back; after the puzzle, solvers test each other. Older students can mark the capitals on a blank world map, then find the five on the list that are not their country's largest city: Ottawa, Canberra, Brasília, Wellington and Hanoi.

All 14 words

Paris · Tokyo · Cairo · Ottawa · Lima · Nairobi · Canberra · Oslo · Madrid · Seoul · Brasilia · Hanoi · Dublin · Wellington