Home › Tangram Puzzles: 19 Shapes with Solutions

Tangram Puzzles: 19 Shapes with Solutions

Below are 19 tangram puzzles. Each dark silhouette can be built with all seven pieces — no more, no less. Try the shape first with your printed set or in the online game, and only open the hidden solution when you are truly stuck. Every solution on this page was verified by computer, so the pieces fit exactly, with no gaps and no overlaps. If you only want the answers, they are all collected on the tangram puzzle solutions page.

The 7 tangram pieces
Puzzles + solutions (PDF)Color pieces (PDF)

House

Tangram House puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram House solution

Cat

Tangram Cat puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Cat solution

Boat

Tangram Boat puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Boat solution

Tree

Tangram Tree puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Tree solution

Arrow

Tangram Arrow puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Arrow solution

Rocket

Tangram Rocket puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Rocket solution

Letter T

Tangram Letter T puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Letter T solution

Rectangle

Tangram Rectangle puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Rectangle solution

Triangle

Tangram Triangle puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Triangle solution

Parallelogram

Tangram Parallelogram puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Parallelogram solution

Trapezoid

Tangram Trapezoid puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Trapezoid solution

Stairs

Tangram Stairs puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Stairs solution

Fish

Tangram Fish puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Fish solution

Diamond

Tangram Diamond puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Diamond solution

Hat

Tangram Hat puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Hat solution

Bridge

Tangram Bridge puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Bridge solution

Candle

Tangram Candle puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Candle solution

Heart

Tangram Heart puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Heart solution

Cup

Tangram Cup puzzle silhouette
Show solutionTangram Cup solution

How to solve tangram puzzles

  1. Place the two large triangles first. Together they cover exactly half of every figure, so their position decides most of the puzzle.
  2. Look for straight edges and right angles. The outside border of the silhouette is your best clue: long straight runs usually come from triangle hypotenuses and the sides of the square piece.
  3. Find a home for the square and the parallelogram. They are the only pieces with four sides, and the parallelogram is the only piece that sometimes has to be flipped over.
  4. Fill the corners with small triangles. The two small triangles combine into a square, a medium triangle or a parallelogram shape, which makes them flexible finishers.
  5. Check the area. If a region of the silhouette looks bigger than the pieces you have left, something placed earlier is wrong — go back one step, not ten.

Easy, medium and hard puzzles

Easy — start here: rectangle, triangle, house, boat, arrow, rocket, diamond and the letter T. These have mostly straight borders and obvious corners. Medium: cat, fish, tree, stairs, trapezoid, parallelogram and candle — expect one tricky piece in each. Hard: heart, cup, bridge and hat. The hard four hide the parallelogram well; if you are stuck for more than ten minutes, peek at just the parallelogram's position in the solution and try again from there.

The parallelogram: the piece everyone forgets to flip

Six of the seven tangram pieces look the same in a mirror. The parallelogram does not. Its mirror image cannot be reached by rotating it on the table — you have to pick it up and turn it over. Many published tangram puzzles are impossible until you flip it, and many solvers give up one step before the answer for exactly this reason. When a puzzle refuses to work, flip the parallelogram and try again before you change anything else.

Tangram paradoxes: two figures that differ by almost nothing

Tangram has a famous family of tricks called paradoxes: two silhouettes that look identical except for one small detail — a foot more, a hole, a chimney — yet both are built from the same seven pieces. The classic pair shows two monks, one with a foot and one without. Nothing is added or removed; the 'missing' piece of area is quietly redistributed along the edges, spread so thin that the eye cannot catch it. Paradoxes are a good reminder of the area rule on this page: every complete figure covers exactly the same area, always. If a region of your puzzle looks too big for the pieces left over, the pieces — not the puzzle — are in the wrong places.

FAQ

Do I have to use all seven pieces?
Yes. A tangram figure always uses all seven pieces, flat, touching but never overlapping.
Can I flip the pieces over?
Yes. Rotating and flipping are both allowed — and flipping is required for the parallelogram in many figures.
Which tangram puzzle should a beginner try first?
The rectangle. It teaches how the two large triangles and the medium pieces share straight edges, and it can be solved in a few minutes.
Are these puzzles suitable for kids?
The easy set is used in classrooms from age five. Print the pieces on cardstock so small hands can slide them without bending.
Can I download all the puzzles at once?
Yes — the PDF button above collects all 19 silhouettes and their solutions in one printable file.

More tangram pages

Free for personal and classroom use.