Grade 3 Three-Digit Subtraction with Regrouping
Three-digit subtraction for grade 3 where all twenty problems regroup, including borrowing across a zero. Free printable PDF with the answer key.
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Subtract. Line up the place values and regroup (borrow) where you need to.
- 1.931−716
- 2.759−288
- 3.601−292
- 4.521−493
- 5.346−118
- 6.724−338
- 7.883−317
- 8.834−357
- 9.649−193
- 10.311−175
- 11.970−654
- 12.895−379
- 13.665−279
- 14.830−407
- 15.983−798
- 16.775−380
- 17.506−362
- 18.451−369
- 19.487−248
- 20.482−424
What this worksheet covers
Set A of this grade 3 vertical format sheet holds twenty subtraction problems on one printable page, with the answer key on the page behind it. Within that, all twenty column problems need regrouping and the numbers run as high as 983. Two problems from the middle of the page — "883 − 317" and "830 − 407" — show the range. Common Core 3.NBT.2 is the slot this page fills.
Skills practiced
At grade 3, subtraction is about three-digit subtraction with regrouping, including across zeros, and this sheet takes one slice of that. Specifically, the problems practice grade 3 Three-Digit Subtraction with Regrouping. To finish it, a student has to carry or borrow across place-value columns without losing a digit. Nineteen different answers appear across the twenty problems, so a student cannot copy one result down the page.
About the vertical format format
The 20 problems here — problem 7, "883 − 317", for one — are printed in column form, the layout the standard algorithm is written for. Column layout is the format regrouping was designed for; the trade has somewhere to be written.
Set A, Set B and Set C
Set A is the original sheet, and Sets B and C were derived from it problem by problem: each number became a slot redrawn with the same shape, and every answer was recomputed exactly. Where Set A's problem 11 is "970 − 654", Set B's is "750 − 540".
How to use this worksheet
Work the twenty problems straight through, then check against the key together rather than handing it back marked; asking a grade 3 student to find their own subtraction error teaches more than seeing it circled. Keep the key face down until all twenty problems are finished, then go through the misses together rather than only totaling the score.
One mistake to watch for
Borrowing across a zero stalls: 603 − 127 is left half done or answered 586 instead of 476. Watch problem 3 of this vertical format — "601 − 292" — for this one.
There is nothing in the tens column to borrow from, and the two-step regroup has not been rehearsed.
Rewrite 603 as 5 hundreds, 9 tens and 13 ones before subtracting anything; the two-step trade is the whole skill here.
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
- Missing Number — Grade 3 Subtraction Missing Number, 24 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 3 Subtraction Mixed Review, 30 problems
- Word Problems — Grade 3 Subtraction Word Problems, 10 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 Vertical Format — grade 2, 20 problems
- Grade 4 Multi-Digit Subtraction (Standard Algorithm) — grade 4, 16 problems
Vertical Format sheets in other grade 3 topics
Free to download, print and photocopy for a whole class: three vertical format sheets of grade 3 subtraction, twenty problems each, keys included.