Naming 2D shapes, step by step

The first question anyone asks a child about a figure is what it is called.

The question

hexagonoctagonsquare

What is this shape called?

Name this shape

sides:4

quadrilateral

squareis alsoa rectangle (four right angles)

Count the sides first — that is what almost every shape name is built from, and it is one number rather than a picture to recognize.
4 sides makes it a quadrilateral — and that is where naming gets more careful, because the four-sided shapes have families inside families.
This one is a square — and it is ALSO a rectangle (four right angles), and a rhombus (four equal sides), and a parallelogram. Being one does not stop it being the others; the question wants the most exact name that fits.

How it works.

01
Count the sides first — that is what almost every shape name is built from, and it is one number rather than a picture to recognize.
02
4 sides makes it a quadrilateral — and that is where naming gets more careful, because the four-sided shapes have families inside families.
03
This one is a square — and it is ALSO a rectangle (four right angles), and a rhombus (four equal sides), and a parallelogram. Being one does not stop it being the others; the question wants the most exact name that fits.