Great Lakes Trivia Quiz – How Much Do You Really Know?

This Great Lakes trivia quiz covers the five freshwater giants on the US-Canada border, from deep, cold Lake Superior to shallow Lake Erie and Niagara Falls. Ten questions test the details.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Size
Which Great Lake is the largest by surface area?
Borders
Which Great Lake lies entirely within the United States?
Depth
Which Great Lake is the shallowest?
Memory
Which word helps people remember the names of the Great Lakes?
Landmarks
Niagara Falls lies on the river connecting which two lakes?
Islands
Which Lake Huron island is the largest island in a freshwater lake?
Shipping
The Soo Locks let ships pass between Lake Superior and which lake?
Connections
Which strait joins Lake Michigan and Lake Huron?
Shipwrecks
Which famous freighter sank in Lake Superior in 1975?
Water
Roughly what share of the world's surface fresh water do the Great Lakes hold?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which Great Lake is the largest by surface area?
Answer: Lake Superior
Lake Superior covers about 82,000 square kilometers, making it the largest freshwater lake in the world by area.
Q2: Which Great Lake lies entirely within the United States?
Answer: Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is bordered by Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. The other four lakes are shared with Canada.
Q3: Which Great Lake is the shallowest?
Answer: Lake Erie
Lake Erie averages only about 19 meters deep. Its shallow water warms quickly in summer and freezes over more often in winter.
Q4: Which word helps people remember the names of the Great Lakes?
Answer: HOMES
HOMES stands for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. It is one of the best-known geography memory tricks in North American schools.
Q5: Niagara Falls lies on the river connecting which two lakes?
Answer: Erie and Ontario
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, dropping over Niagara Falls along the way.
Q6: Which Lake Huron island is the largest island in a freshwater lake?
Answer: Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island in Ontario covers about 2,766 square kilometers and even contains its own lakes, some with islands of their own.
Q7: The Soo Locks let ships pass between Lake Superior and which lake?
Answer: Lake Huron
The locks at Sault Ste. Marie lift and lower ships about 6 meters around the rapids of the St. Marys River.
Q8: Which strait joins Lake Michigan and Lake Huron?
Answer: Straits of Mackinac
Because they meet at the wide Straits of Mackinac, Lakes Michigan and Huron share the same water level and are sometimes treated as one lake.
Q9: Which famous freighter sank in Lake Superior in 1975?
Answer: Edmund Fitzgerald
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a November storm with all 29 crew. Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song made the disaster famous.
Q10: Roughly what share of the world's surface fresh water do the Great Lakes hold?
Answer: About 21 percent
The Great Lakes contain about 21 percent of the world's fresh surface water, enough to cover the lower 48 states about 3 meters deep.

Great Lakes Trivia Quiz – Five Lakes, One System

The Great Lakes were carved by glaciers during the last Ice Age and filled with meltwater about 10,000 years ago. Together they form a chain that drains east through the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean.

More than 30 million people live in the Great Lakes basin, including the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland and Milwaukee. The lakes supply drinking water, carry freighters loaded with iron ore and grain and support fishing and tourism on both sides of the border.

What This Quiz Teaches

Students, sailors and anyone planning a lake trip will find this quiz a quick way to sort out five similar-looking lakes.

How to remember the lakes with HOMES
Which lake is largest and which is shallowest
Where Niagara Falls and the Soo Locks are
Why Michigan and Huron share a water level
The story of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Did You Know?

Lake Superior holds enough water to fill all the other Great Lakes plus three more Lake Eries.
Waves on Lake Superior have been measured higher than 8 meters during storms.
Lake Ontario is the smallest Great Lake by surface area.
Thousands of shipwrecks lie on the bottom of the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes coastline is longer than the US Atlantic coast.