Classifying triangles worksheets

A triangle can be named two different ways, and the standard asks for both. These free printable worksheets let you pick which naming a sheet drills — or mix them, so a child has to notice which question they were handed.

Classifying triangles
Classifying triangles worksheet — By angles and by sides, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

Naming by angles asks whether the widest corner is acute, right, or obtuse. Naming by sides asks how many of the three lengths match. They are independent: a right triangle can be isosceles, and an obtuse one can be scalene, and children who have only met one naming often assume the two are the same question in different words.

Why this sheet works

The side-length sheets print all three numbers and draw the triangle to match them, so an isosceles triangle genuinely has two equal sides on the page. A figure that says 8, 8, 5 while looking scalene teaches a child to distrust the picture, which is the last thing a geometry sheet should do.

How this one works

Name this triangle

sides:16 cm16 cm16 cm
sides:16 cm16 cm16 cm
sides:16 cm16 cm16 cm
equilateral
  1. Every triangle has TWO names — one for its angles and one for its sides — and it has both at once. This question is asking for the SIDE name, so look only at the side lengths.
  2. Count how many are the SAME, not how long they are: all three match.
  3. All three equal is EQUILATERAL.