4.OA.2 — Multiplicative Comparison Word Problems
Practice solving real-world word problems using multiplication and division to compare quantities, and learn to tell the difference between multiplicative and additive comparisons.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Read each word problem carefully, then multiply or divide to find the answer.
- 1.A sunflower in Maya's garden is 6 feet tall. Her rosebush is 3 times as tall as her tulip. If the tulip is 2 feet tall, how tall is the rosebush?
- 2.Jake collected 5 rocks. His older brother collected 4 times as many rocks as Jake. How many rocks did Jake's brother collect?
- 3.A blue ribbon is 8 inches long. A red ribbon is 3 times as long as the blue ribbon. How long is the red ribbon?
- 4.Sara has 36 stickers. She has 9 times as many stickers as her little sister. How many stickers does her little sister have?
- 5.A tiger weighs 48 pounds. It weighs 6 times as much as a fox. How much does the fox weigh?
- 6.Tom read 7 books over the summer. His teacher read 5 times as many books as Tom. How many books did his teacher read?
- 7.A small fish tank holds 9 gallons of water. A large tank holds 4 times as much water. How many gallons does the large tank hold?
- 8.A bakery made 56 muffins on Saturday. That was 7 times as many muffins as it made on Sunday. How many muffins did the bakery make on Sunday?
- 9.Lucy scored 8 points in a game. Her friend scored 6 times as many points as Lucy. How many points did her friend score?
- 10.A farmer planted 63 seeds in a field. He planted 9 times as many seeds as his neighbor. How many seeds did the neighbor plant?
- 11.A cheetah ran 45 miles in a day. It ran 5 times as far as a deer. How far did the deer run?
- 12.A yellow pencil is 4 inches long. A green pencil is 8 times as long as the yellow pencil. How long is the green pencil?
- 13.Marco saved $54. He saved 6 times as much money as his cousin. How much money did his cousin save?
- 14.A school library has 72 fiction books. That is 8 times as many fiction books as nonfiction books. How many nonfiction books does the library have?
- 15.Emma's cat weighs 6 pounds. Her dog weighs 7 times as much as her cat. How much does her dog weigh?
- 16.A store sold 9 hats on Monday. On Friday it sold 6 times as many hats as on Monday. How many hats did the store sell on Friday?
- 17.A pine tree is 40 feet tall. It is 8 times as tall as a small shrub. How tall is the shrub?
- 18.Kenji has 7 trading cards. His classmate has 9 times as many trading cards as Kenji. How many trading cards does his classmate have?
- 19.A swimming pool holds 64 buckets of water. That is 8 times as many buckets as a small wading pool can hold. How many buckets can the wading pool hold?
- 20.A recipe uses 3 cups of flour. Another recipe uses 6 times as much flour. How many cups of flour does the second recipe use?
- 21.A running trail is 56 meters long. It is 7 times as long as the school hallway. How long is the school hallway?
- 22.Sophie picked 8 apples from the tree. Her dad picked 5 times as many apples as Sophie. How many apples did her dad pick?
What this worksheet covers
22 story problems fill this word problems page; problem 8 asks "A bakery made 56 muffins on Saturday. That was 7 times as…", 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 the quantities are amounts of money, so answers need a dollar or cent sign to be complete. Further down, problem 15 asks "Emma's cat weighs 6 pounds. Her dog weighs 7 times as much…". It is written against Common Core 4.OA.2 — Operations & Algebraic Thinking, grade 4.
Skills practised
At grade 4, multiplication is about two- and three-digit by one-digit products and two-digit by two-digit multiplication, and this sheet takes one slice of that. Specifically, the problems practise multiplicative Comparison Word Problems. Concretely, the sheet tests whether a student can read a situation and choose an operation before computing and carry money notation through to the answer.
About the word problems format
Story problems are set one to a line with room to work underneath, problem 8, "A bakery made 56 muffins on Saturday. That was 7 times as…" among them, and the key gives each of the 22 answers with its unit. Equal groups, arrays and comparison situations all multiply, and recognising them is the skill the drill sheets cannot teach.
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 yellow pencil is 4 inches long. A green pencil is 8 times…", Set B's is "A bus company moves 35 passengers using buses that hold 5…".
22 story problem(s) drawn from the /custom word-problem bank (grade 4 ranges, ops mul/div) — parameters inferred from 4.OA.2
How to use this worksheet
Work the 22 problems straight through, then check against the key together rather than handing it back marked; asking a grade 4 student to find their own multiplication error teaches more than seeing it circled. Use the key as a check, not as a grade; none of the 22 problems needs a score attached to be useful.
One mistake to watch for
Facts are found by skip counting from zero every time. Problem 15 on this grade 4 word problems page, "Emma's cat weighs 6 pounds. Her dog weighs 7 times as much…", is where to look for it.
The table is known as a sequence, not as individual facts, so 7 × 8 means reciting eight sevens.
Drill the facts out of order and use the known-fact strategy: 7 × 8 is 7 × 4 doubled, or 5 × 8 plus 2 × 8.
Other grade 4 multiplication formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 4 Multiplication Drill, 30 problems
- Timed Drill — Grade 4 Multiplication Timed Drill, 72 problems
- Missing Number — Grade 4 Multiplication Missing Number, 24 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 4 Multiplication Mixed Review, 30 problems
- Vertical Format — Grade 4 Multiplication Practice, 18 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.
- 3.OA.3 — Multiplication & Division Word Problems — grade 3, 22 problems
- Grade 5 Multiplication Word Problems — grade 5, 10 problems
Word Problems sheets in other grade 4 topics
Six PDFs, no sign-up: three versions of this grade 4 multiplication word problems and three answer keys, each 22 problems long.