Practice Subtraction as Difference in Math

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Worksheet PDF Free Answer-key PDF Family

Quick Recap

Understanding subtraction as finding the gap or difference between two quantities, rather than just 'taking away.' This comparison model asks 'how many more?' or 'how far apart?'

How much taller is a 6-foot person than a 4-foot person? The difference is 2 feet.

Showing a random 20 of 64 problems.

Example 1

easy
Anna has 99 stickers and Ben has 44. How many more does Anna have?

Example 2

hard
Jack is 9 years old. His little sister is 4. How many years older is Jack?

Example 3

easy
You have 3 red bears. You see 1 blue bear. How many more red bears than blue?

Example 4

easy
A rope is 1212 m long. You cut off 55 m. How much is left?

Example 5

easy
Maria is 1111 and her brother is 77. How many years older is Maria?

Example 6

medium
What number is 6 less than 14?

Example 7

medium
Maya picked 6 flowers. Ben picked 10 flowers. How many fewer flowers did Maya pick?

Example 8

medium
Two ribbons are 1919 cm and 1111 cm. How much must you cut from the longer to match the shorter?

Example 9

easy
🍎🍎🍎🍎 and 🍐🍐. How many more apples than pears?

Example 10

easy
Compute 15−815 - 8.

Example 11

easy
There are 17 red apples and 9 green apples in a basket. How many more red apples are there?

Example 12

easy
A school library has 65 fiction books and 41 nonfiction books. How many more fiction books are there?

Example 13

challenge
Two numbers add to 2020 and differ by 66. Find the numbers.

Example 14

hard
Theo had 20 marbles. He gave 7 to his cousin. His friend has 18 marbles. How many fewer marbles does Theo have now than his friend?

Example 15

medium
Emma has 5 books. Her shelf can hold 10. How many more books fit on the shelf?

Example 16

medium
A shirt costs $24\$24 and pants cost $31\$31. How much more do the pants cost?

Example 17

medium
Liam has 9 stickers. Noah has 2 stickers. How many more does Liam have?

Example 18

medium
Town A is 2525 km away and Town B is 4040 km away along the same road. How far apart are the towns?

Example 19

easy
Compute 73−4773 - 47.

Example 20

hard
Tom saved \$63 last month. This month he saved \$45, but then he spent \$18 on a gift. How much more money did Tom save last month than what he has from this month after the gift?
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