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Secret Codes and Ciphers: Hidden Messages

SheelonCybersecurityComputer ScienceEnglishGrades 6-8Published Aug 6, 2026

Shifted alphabets, dots and dashes, warming invisible ink, and the machine an army trusted too much. Crack the history of secret writing from Rome to World War II.

12

questions

~6 min

to play

3

question types

Free

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Questions in this quiz

All 12 shown. Answers not revealed.

  1. A cipher that hides a message by shifting every letter the same number of places is named after which Roman leader?

    Multiple Choice · 20s

    ANero
    BJulius Caesar
    CAugustus
    DHadrian
  2. In Morse code, which famous signal is three dots, three dashes, then three dots again?

    Multiple Choice · 20s

    AOK
    BHELP
    CSOS
    DSTOP
  3. SOS was chosen as the distress signal because it stands for 'Save Our Souls'.

    True / False · 20s

    TRUE
    FALSE
  4. During World War II, Germany's Enigma cipher machine was secretly cracked by codebreakers working at...Multiple Choice · 20s
  5. What is a substitution cipher?Multiple Choice · 20s
  6. How do you reveal a message written in lemon juice 'invisible ink'?Multiple Choice · 20s
  7. Before radio, sailors spelled out messages between ships by holding two of what in changing positions?Multiple Choice · 20s
  8. A transposition cipher hides a message by changing the ORDER of its letters rather than replacing them.True / False · 20s
  9. In World War II, the US military built a famously unbreakable spoken code on which language?Multiple Choice · 20s
  10. The word 'cryptography' comes from Greek words meaning...Multiple Choice · 20s
  11. What do we call the secret piece of information needed to lock or unlock a cipher? (one word)Type Answer · 30s
  12. Which code, built from dots and dashes, is named after its American inventor? (one or two words)Type Answer · 30s

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