Grade 3 Subtraction Missing Number
Grade 3 subtraction missing number sheet: 24 problems on three-digit subtraction with regrouping.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Find the number that belongs in each blank.
- 1.___ - 635 = 25
- 2.647 - ___ = 78
- 3.790 - ___ = 451
- 4.615 - ___ = 417
- 5.___ - 166 = 62
- 6.___ - 226 = 592
- 7.323 - 253 = ___
- 8.625 - ___ = 280
- 9.___ - 182 = 37
- 10.___ - 265 = 336
- 11.___ - 156 = 107
- 12.___ - 294 = 361
- 13.___ - 185 = 216
- 14.373 - 138 = ___
- 15.642 - 366 = ___
- 16.___ - 228 = 5
- 17.741 - ___ = 116
- 18.___ - 108 = 669
- 19.___ - 391 = 446
- 20.___ - 293 = 149
- 21.___ - 179 = 118
- 22.665 - ___ = 538
- 23.___ - 567 = 369
- 24.937 - ___ = 154
What this worksheet covers
Set A of this grade 3 missing number sheet holds 24 subtraction problems on one printable page, with the answer key on the page behind it. What makes this set particular: the blank moves between positions from problem to problem, so no single procedure clears the page and the numbers run as high as 937. Two problems from the middle of the page — "___ - 182 = 37" and "741 - ___ = 116" — show the range. It is written against Common Core 3.NBT.2 — Number & Operations in Base Ten, grade 3.
Skills practised
Grade 3 subtraction means three-digit subtraction with regrouping, including across zeros. What a student is asked to do here is three-digit subtraction with regrouping. To finish it, a student has to reason backwards from a result to a missing part.
About the missing number format
The 24 problems here move the unknown around, so a student solves for a missing part as often as for a result; problem 9, "___ - 182 = 37" is one of them. Blanks in the minuend or subtrahend force the student to think of subtraction as a missing part, which is the idea behind every later inverse operation.
Set A, Set B and Set C
The three sets come from the same generator with three different seeds: same skill, same layout, fresh numbers, and an answer key computed with the problems. Where Set A's problem 13 is "___ - 185 = 216", Set B's is "981 - 249 = ___".
How to use this worksheet
Give this missing number uninterrupted. At grade 3, subtraction is where procedure and recall have to run at the same time, and 24 problems done in fragments hide which of the two is the problem. Mark the 24 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
A missing-number problem like ___ − 6 = 13 is answered 7. On this grade 3 missing number, problem 17 ("741 - ___ = 116") is the kind of item where it shows.
The student subtracts the two visible numbers regardless of where the blank sits.
Ask what the whole is and what the part is before computing; drawing a part-part-whole bar makes the position of the unknown visible.
Other grade 3 subtraction formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 3 Subtraction Drill, 30 problems
- Timed Drill — Grade 3 Subtraction Timed Drill, 72 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 3 Subtraction Mixed Review, 30 problems
- Word Problems — Grade 3 Subtraction Word Problems, 10 problems
- Vertical Format — Grade 3 Three-Digit Subtraction with Regrouping, 20 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 2 Subtraction Missing Number — grade 2, 24 problems
- Grade 4 Subtraction Missing Number — grade 4, 24 problems
Missing Number sheets in other grade 3 topics
Free to download, print and photocopy for a whole class: three missing number sheets of grade 3 subtraction, 24 problems each, keys included.