Multiplying Fractions & Mixed Numbers: Real-World Problems
Practice solving everyday situations using multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers, including recipes, distances, areas, and more to build real-world math fluency.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Read each word problem carefully, multiply the fractions or mixed numbers, and write your answer with its unit.
- 1.A recipe calls for 3/4 cup of sugar. If Maya wants to make 1/2 of the recipe, how much sugar does she need?
- 2.A garden plot is 2/3 yard long and 3/5 yard wide. What is the area of the garden plot?
- 3.Carlos walks 1 1/2 miles to school each day. How far does he walk in 4 days?
- 4.A bolt of fabric is 5/6 yard long. A seamstress uses 2/3 of it for a project. How many yards of fabric does she use?
- 5.A pitcher holds 2 1/4 gallons of lemonade. A camp counselor pours out 1/3 of the pitcher. How many gallons were poured out?
- 6.A rectangular room is 3 1/2 feet wide and 4 2/3 feet long. What is the area of the room?
- 7.A baker uses 2/3 cup of butter for one batch of cookies. She wants to make 3 1/2 batches. How many cups of butter does she need?
- 8.A snail travels 1/4 mile in one hour. How far does it travel in 2 1/2 hours?
- 9.A farmer has 4 2/5 acres of land. He plants corn on 3/4 of his land. How many acres are planted with corn?
- 10.A runner jogs 3/5 of a mile each morning. How many miles does she jog in 5 days?
- 11.A piece of ribbon is 6 1/3 feet long. Sofia cuts off 3/4 of it to decorate a gift. How long is the piece she cuts off?
- 12.A pond is 1 3/4 miles wide and 2 1/5 miles long. What is the area of the pond?
- 13.A car uses 1 1/8 gallons of gas for every hour of driving. How many gallons does it use in 2 2/3 hours?
- 14.A box of cereal weighs 1 1/2 pounds. A school orders 12 boxes. What is the total weight of the cereal?
- 15.Each student needs 2/3 of a sheet of construction paper for an art project. If there are 18 students, how many sheets are needed in all?
- 16.A swimming pool is being filled with water. After 1 1/4 hours, it is 2/5 full. If the pool holds 300 gallons when full, how many gallons are in the pool after 1 1/4 hours?
- 17.A recipe for one loaf of bread requires 2 1/3 cups of flour. How many cups of flour are needed to make 3 loaves?
- 18.A rectangular field is 5 3/4 miles long and 2/5 mile wide. What is the area of the field?
- 19.A bicycle path is 4 1/2 miles long. Jaden has ridden 2/3 of the path. How many miles has he ridden?
- 20.A fish tank holds 8 1/3 gallons of water. It is currently 3/5 full. How many gallons of water are in the tank?
- 21.A roll of wire is 9 3/4 feet long. An electrician uses 5/6 of the roll. How many feet of wire does he use?
- 22.A bag of mixed nuts weighs 2 2/5 pounds. If a store sells 7 bags, what is the total weight of the nuts?
What this worksheet covers
22 story problems fill this word problems page; problem 8 asks "A snail travels 1/4 mile in one hour. How far does it…", and the sheet stays at that level throughout. Within that, every problem is set in a short situation, so the first decision is which operation it calls for and several problems use mixed numbers, which have to be handled without dropping the whole-number part. Further down, problem 15 asks "Each student needs 2/3 of a sheet of construction paper for…". Common Core 5.NF.6 is the slot this page fills.
Skills practised
The grade 5 fractions sequence covers adding and subtracting unlike denominators, multiplying fractions, and dividing with unit fractions; this page sits inside it. What a student is asked to do here is multiplying Fractions & Mixed Numbers: Real-World Problems. Concretely, the sheet tests whether a student can read a situation and choose an operation before computing and work in fractional units and give the answer in lowest terms. 21 different answers appear across the 22 problems, so a student cannot copy one result down the page.
About the word problems format
Story problems are set one to a line with room to work underneath, problem 8, "A snail travels 1/4 mile in one hour. How far does it…" among them, and the key gives each of the 22 answers with its unit. Fractions of recipes, distances and shares are where the abstract unit becomes a real quantity.
Set A, Set B and Set C
Set A is the original MathSheetLab worksheet; Sets B and C keep its structure and redraw the numbers, with each answer recomputed rather than copied. Where Set A's problem 12 is "A pond is 1 3/4 miles wide and 2 1/5 miles long. What is…", Set B's is "A pitcher holds 3 1/2 gallons of lemonade. A camp counselor…".
22 story problem(s) drawn from the 5.NF.6 context family (fraction and mixed-number multiplication stories) — parameters inferred from the standard and grade
How to use this worksheet
Give this word problems uninterrupted. At grade 5, fractions is where procedure and recall have to run at the same time, and 22 problems done in fragments hide which of the two is the problem. Mark the 22 problems the same day using the key — an error caught immediately is a correction, and one caught next week is a habit.
One mistake to watch for
Equivalent fractions are made by adding the same number to top and bottom: 2/3 becomes 3/4. Watch problem 15 of this word problems — "Each student needs 2/3 of a sheet of construction paper for…" — for this one.
Multiplying and adding are being confused in the renaming step.
Draw the fraction, cut every piece in half, and count; the pieces double, they do not gain one.
Other grade 5 fractions formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — 5.NF.4 — Multiplying Fractions Practice, 22 problems
- Timed Drill — Grade 5 Fractions Timed Drill, 72 problems
- Missing Number — Grade 5 Fractions Missing Number, 24 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 5 Fractions Mixed Review, 30 problems
A step either side
The same format one grade down and one grade up — the easier sheet is often the faster fix when this one is not landing.
- Grade 4 Fractions Word Problems — grade 4, 10 problems
- Grade 6 Fractions Word Problems — grade 6, 10 problems
Word Problems sheets in other grade 5 topics
Six PDFs, no sign-up: three versions of this grade 5 fractions word problems and three answer keys, each 22 problems long.