2.MD.5 — Adding and Subtracting Lengths Word Problems
Practice solving real-world word problems by adding and subtracting lengths in the same units, with all numbers within 100, to build measurement and math fluency.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Read each word problem carefully, then solve using addition or subtraction.
- 1.A worm is 8 centimeters long. Another worm is 5 centimeters long. How long are the two worms together?
- 2.Maria has a ribbon that is 24 inches long. She cuts off 9 inches to wrap a gift. How many inches of ribbon does she have left?
- 3.A blue crayon is 12 centimeters long. A red crayon is 7 centimeters long. How much longer is the blue crayon than the red crayon?
- 4.Jake walks 35 meters to school. Then he walks 18 more meters to the library. How many meters does Jake walk in all?
- 5.A garden hose is 50 feet long. A second hose is 30 feet long. If you connect them end to end, how long are the two hoses together?
- 6.A piece of rope is 47 inches long. Sam cuts off 19 inches. How many inches of rope are left?
- 7.Lily's pencil is 16 centimeters long. Tom's pencil is 9 centimeters long. How long are both pencils together?
- 8.A caterpillar crawled 42 centimeters up a branch. Then it crawled back down 17 centimeters. How far up the branch is the caterpillar now?
- 9.One side of a garden is 38 feet long. Another side is 25 feet long. What is the total length of those two sides?
- 10.A bookshelf is 90 centimeters wide. A stack of books takes up 54 centimeters. How many centimeters of empty space are left on the shelf?
- 11.A jump rope is 78 inches long. Another jump rope is 15 inches long. How much longer is the first jump rope than the second?
- 12.Pedro swam 29 meters across the pool. Then he swam 33 more meters. How many meters did Pedro swim in all?
- 13.A snake is 55 centimeters long. A lizard is 28 centimeters long. How much longer is the snake than the lizard?
- 14.Anna's scarf is 40 inches long. She wants it to be 65 inches long. How many more inches of scarf does she need to knit?
- 15.A path through the park is 67 meters long. Workers paved 39 meters of it. How many meters are still unpaved?
- 16.Two toy trains are placed end to end. One train is 31 centimeters long and the other is 46 centimeters long. How long are they together?
- 17.A fence on the left side of the yard is 22 feet long. A fence on the right side is 48 feet long. How long are both fences together?
- 18.A string of lights is 85 inches long. Ben uses 57 inches to decorate the window. How many inches of lights are left?
- 19.Emma ran 44 meters in the morning and 36 meters in the afternoon. How many meters did she run in all?
- 20.A wooden board is 99 centimeters long. A builder cuts off 43 centimeters. How long is the remaining piece of board?
- 21.A hallway is 76 feet long. A rug covers 49 feet of the hallway. How many feet of the hallway are not covered by the rug?
- 22.Carlos has two pieces of wire. One piece is 17 centimeters long and the other is 58 centimeters long. How long are both pieces of wire together?
What this worksheet covers
Set A of this grade 2 word problems sheet holds 22 story problems on one printable page, with the answer key on the page behind it. What makes this set particular: each problem arrives as a few sentences of context rather than a bare expression and answers carry units, and a number without its unit is only half an answer. Two problems from the middle of the page — "A caterpillar crawled 42 centimeters up a branch. Then it…" and "A path through the park is 67 meters long. Workers paved 39…" — show the range. Common Core 2.MD.5 is the slot this page fills.
Skills practised
At grade 2, measurement is about adding and subtracting lengths, feet and inches, meters and centimeters, and time to the half hour, and this sheet takes one slice of that. Specifically, the problems practise adding and Subtracting Lengths Word Problems. Concretely, the sheet tests whether a student can read a situation and choose an operation before computing. Twenty 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 caterpillar crawled 42 centimeters up a branch. Then it…" among them, and the key gives each of the 22 answers with its unit. Gardens, ribbons, tanks and trips are the reason measurement is taught; the numbers finally mean something.
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 "Pedro swam 29 meters across the pool. Then he swam 33 more…", Set B's is "A bookshelf is 87 centimeters wide. A stack of books takes…".
22 story problem(s) drawn from the 2.MD.5 context family (length add/subtract stories within 100) — parameters inferred from the standard and grade
How to use this worksheet
Sit alongside for this measurement word problems. At grade 2 the useful information is not the score but which of the 22 problems drew a pause. Ask the student to re-work one missed measurement problem from scratch on Set B rather than correcting it in place; the second attempt shows whether the method changed.
One mistake to watch for
A conversion multiplies when it should divide: 36 inches becomes 432 feet. Watch problem 15 of this word problems — "A path through the park is 67 meters long. Workers paved 39…" — for this one.
The direction of the conversion is not being reasoned about.
Ask "should the answer be a bigger number or a smaller one?" before touching the factor; feet are bigger units so there are fewer of them.
Other grade 2 measurement formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 2 Measurement Drill, 24 problems
- Timed Drill — Grade 2 Measurement Timed Drill, 60 problems
- Missing Number — Grade 2 Measurement Missing Number, 24 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 2 Measurement Mixed Review, 24 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 1 Measurement Word Problems — grade 1, 8 problems
- 3.MD.7 — Area of Rectangles & Distributive Property — grade 3, 22 problems
Word Problems sheets in other grade 2 topics
Free to download, print and photocopy for a whole class: three word problems sheets of grade 2 measurement, 22 problems each, keys included.