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The Daily Insight

Which regular polygons can tessellate?

Author

Michael Gray

Updated on April 04, 2026

Only three regular polygons (shapes with all sides and angles equal) can form a tessellation by themselves—triangles, squares, and hexagons.

What are the only 3 shapes that tessellate?

There are only three shapes that can form such regular tessellations: the equilateral triangle, square and the regular hexagon.

What shapes can tessellate together?

Triangles, squares and hexagons are the only regular shapes which tessellate by themselves. You can have other tessellations of regular shapes if you use more than one type of shape. You can even tessellate pentagons, but they won’t be regular ones. Tessellations can be used for tile patterns or in patchwork quilts!

How do you know if a polygon will tessellate?

A tessellation is a pattern created with identical shapes which fit together with no gaps. Regular polygons tessellate if the interior angles can be added together to make 360°. Certain shapes that are not regular can also be tessellated. Remember that a tessellation leaves no gaps.

Can a regular pentagon tessellate?

Regular tessellation We have already seen that the regular pentagon does not tessellate. A regular polygon with more than six sides has a corner angle larger than 120° (which is 360°/3) and smaller than 180° (which is 360°/2) so it cannot evenly divide 360°.

What kind of regular polygons can be used for regular tessellations apex?

The regular polygons that can be used to form a regular tessellation are an equilateral triangle, a square, and a regular hexagon.

What polygons Cannot tessellate?

Looking at the other regular polygons as shown in Figure 2, we can see clearly why the polygons cannot tessellate. The sums of the interior angles are either greater than or less than 360 degrees. Theorem: There are only three regular tessellations: equilateral triangles, squares, and regular hexagons.

Will a pentagon tessellate?

What regular polygons will tessellate a flat surface?

Equilateral triangles, squares and regular hexagons are the only regular polygons that will tessellate.

Why are there only 3 regular polygons that tessellate?

Firstly, there are only three regular tessellations which are triangles, squares, and hexagons. To make a regular tessellation, the internal angle of the polygon has to be a diviser of 360. This is because the angles have to be added up to 360 so it does not leave any gaps.

What polygon Cannot be used to form a regular tessellation?

How many tessellations are there in regular polygons?

Equilateral triangles, squares and regular hexagons are the only regular polygons that will tessellate. Therefore, there are only three regular tessellations.

What shapes do not tessellate?

There are only three regular shapes that tessellate – the square, the equilateral triangle, and the regular hexagon. All other regular shapes, like the regular pentagon and regular octagon, do not tessellate on their own. For instance, you can make a tessellation with squares and regular octagons used together.

What is the difference between regular and semi-regular tessellations?

A regular tessellation is a design covering the plane made using 1 type of regular polygons. A semi-regular tessellation is made using 2 or more types of regular polygons. With both regular and semi-regular tessellations, the arrangement of polygons around every vertex point must be identical.

What is a regular polygon in math?

A regular polygon is one in which all of the sides and angles are equal. Some examples are shown below. These are referred to as, respectively, (regular) triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, and octagon. A vertex is a point at which three or more tiles in a tessellation meet.