Kindergarten Subtraction Missing Number
Kindergarten subtraction missing number sheet: 20 problems on subtraction within 5, subtraction within 10.
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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.
- 1.4 - 4 = ___
- 2.___ - 5 = 0
- 3.___ - 1 = 1
- 4.10 - ___ = 7
- 5.4 - 2 = ___
- 6.2 - 1 = ___
- 7.2 - 2 = ___
- 8.8 - ___ = 2
- 9.___ - 2 = 3
- 10.7 - 2 = ___
- 11.___ - 4 = 1
- 12.10 - ___ = 2
- 13.___ - 1 = 4
- 14.7 - ___ = 4
- 15.2 - ___ = 1
- 16.6 - 5 = ___
- 17.___ - 3 = 0
- 18.1 - ___ = 0
- 19.4 - ___ = 3
- 20.7 - 1 = ___
What this worksheet covers
Set A of this kindergarten missing number sheet holds twenty subtraction problems on one printable page, with the answer key on the page behind it. The blank moves between positions from problem to problem, so no single procedure clears the page and the numbers run as high as 10. Two problems from the middle of the page — "2 - 2 = ___" and "7 - ___ = 4" — show the range. The skill maps to Common Core K.OA.5.
Skills practised
Kindergarten subtraction means taking away within 5 and within 10, including taking from ten. Specifically, the problems practise subtraction within 5 and subtraction within 10. To finish it, a student has to reason backwards from a result to a missing part. Seven different answers appear across the twenty problems, so a student cannot copy one result down the page.
About the missing number format
The 20 problems here move the unknown around, so a student solves for a missing part as often as for a result; problem 7, "2 - 2 = ___" 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 11 is "___ - 4 = 1", Set B's is "2 - 1 = ___".
How to use this worksheet
Five focused minutes beats twenty distracted ones at kindergarten. Fold this missing number in half, do one part of the twenty problems today and the rest tomorrow, and let the student use fingers or counters if they want them. Print Set B of this subtraction missing number before writing on Set A; the same skill worked twice a week apart tells you far more than once.
One mistake to watch for
Subtraction facts are recomputed by counting back one at a time. Watch problem 14 of this missing number — "7 - ___ = 4" — for this one.
The relationship to addition has not been made explicit, so 13 − 8 is not being read as "8 plus what is 13".
Practise fact families as a unit, four equations at a time, and give unknown-addend problems alongside the subtraction ones.
Other kindergarten subtraction formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Kindergarten Subtraction Drill, 20 problems
- Timed Drill — Kindergarten Subtraction Timed Drill, 50 problems
- Mixed Review — Kindergarten Subtraction Mixed Review, 20 problems
- Vertical Format — Kindergarten Subtraction Vertical Format, 16 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 Subtraction Missing Number — grade 1, 24 problems
Missing Number sheets in other kindergarten topics
Free to download, print and photocopy for a whole class: three missing number sheets of kindergarten subtraction, twenty problems each, keys included.