Grade 3 Subtraction Word Problems
Grade 3 subtraction word problems sheet: 10 problems on .
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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Read each problem carefully. Show your work, then write your answer on the line.
- 1.The school ordered 60 postcards and 36 arrived damaged. How many usable postcards did the school get?
- 2.The class recycled 164 cans in September and 102 cans in October. How many cans did the class recycle?
- 3.Tessa saved 157 dollars and spent 156 dollars on a gift. How much money does Tessa have left?
- 4.Yara needs 193 points to win and already has 68. How many more points does Yara need?
- 5.The pool holds 182 liters. 133 liters have been pumped in. How many more liters will it take to fill it?
- 6.Ava had 38 beads and found 156 more under the bed. How many beads does Ava have now?
- 7.A book has 40 pages and Ivan has read 30 of them. How many pages are left to read?
- 8.The class started with 136 photos and used 41 during the project. How many photos remain?
- 9.A recipe calls for 125 grams of flour. Noah has already added 66 grams. How many grams are still needed?
- 10.Rosa collected 91 oranges on Saturday and 143 oranges on Sunday. How many oranges did Rosa collect in all?
What this worksheet covers
There are ten story problems here — one page to work, one page of answers to check against — and Sets B and C repeat the layout with different numbers. 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. Problems 4 and 7, for instance, are "Yara needs 193 points to win and already has 68. How many…" and "A book has 40 pages and Ivan has read 30 of them. How many…".
Skills practised
The grade 3 subtraction sequence covers three-digit subtraction with regrouping, including across zeros; this page sits inside it. Working the page asks a student to read a situation and choose an operation before computing and carry money notation through to the answer.
About the word problems format
The 10 story problems each get a full line and an answer rule; problem 4, "Yara needs 193 points to win and already has 68. How many…" is one, and the answer key writes the unit with every answer. Take-away, comparison and missing-part situations all call for subtraction, and telling them apart is the reading work this format practises.
Set A, Set B and Set C
All three sets are produced by the site's deterministic generator from a fixed seed, so they are the same every time the site is built and the answer keys are exact. Where Set A's problem 6 is "Ava had 38 beads and found 156 more under the bed. How many…", Set B's is "Grace wrote 61 words in the morning and 40 words at night.…".
How to use this worksheet
By grade 3 a student should take all ten subtraction problems in one sitting. If the page takes more than about fifteen minutes, the underlying facts are probably not automatic yet, and that is worth fixing before more subtraction practice piles on. Use the key as a check, not as a grade; none of the ten problems needs a score attached to be useful.
The full guide to teaching subtractionTeaching subtraction from take-away to signed numbers: the grade 1–8 progression, borrowing across zeros, and the six error patterns that stall students.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
- 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 Word Problems — grade 2, 8 problems
- Grade 4 Subtraction Word Problems — grade 4, 10 problems
Word Problems sheets in other grade 3 topics
No paywall and no account — download any set of this grade 3 subtraction word problems, and the answers for all ten problems are in the matching key.