Name Tracing Sheets

Cursive Z: capital Z and lowercase z

Three pages to trace: capital Z, lowercase z, and zoo, zip and zebra joined. The letters print in light gray without arrows, so the steps below say where each stroke goes.

Each line becomes its own page. Keep Aa–Zz or type any words.

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In the print window pick your printer, or “Save as PDF” to keep a file. Set scale to 100%.

More optionsCapitals, lines, example, starting dots
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Preview

Printed sample: Cursive Z: capital Z and lowercase z
The first page with the default settings, as it prints on US Letter paper.

How to write a cursive capital Z

  1. Start just below the top line on the left. Curve up and over to the right and back down to the left, to the middle.
  2. Make a small turn at the middle and come down to the baseline in a curve, like the bottom of a 3.
  3. Keep going below the baseline, loop back to the left and up, crossing at the baseline, and rise.

On these sheets capital Z joins the letter after it.

How to write a cursive lowercase z

  1. From the baseline, make a small hump up to the midline and come down to the baseline in a curve.
  2. Make a small turn at the baseline and keep going below it.
  3. Loop back to the left and up, cross at the baseline, and rise.

Joining cursive z to other letters

Lowercase z starts with an overcurve hump and ends with the rising stroke from its lower loop, like y. In zz, as in buzz and fizz, that exit rises straight into the hump of the second z. After o, as in dozen, the join runs along the midline into the hump.

The small turn at the baseline is easy to skip. Without it, the z is just a hump with a tail and looks like a y.

Cursive Z and print Z

Neither cursive z looks like print Z: there are no straight lines and no sharp corners, and both drop below the baseline. Capital Z looks like a 3 sitting on a looped tail.

Print Z with starting dots and arrows: letter Z tracing worksheets.

Cursive z words

zoo, zip, zebra, zero, buzz.

Previous: cursive Y. All 26 letters: cursive alphabet worksheets.

Questions

Why does cursive z go below the line?

Traditional US cursive gives z a lower loop, like g and y. The loop is where its joining stroke comes from.

How do I tell cursive z from cursive y?

Both have a hump and a lower loop. y has an upstroke on the right of its hump, like a u; z has a small turn at the baseline instead.

How do you write zz in cursive?

Close the loop of the first z at the baseline and rise into the hump of the second. Practice buzz, fizz and jazz.