How to Solve Word Problems

Elsa reads 13 books this month.  She read 6 fewer books than Cliff read.  How many books did Cliff read?  Draw a comparison bar.

• 13  books
• 19 books
• 7 books

Mr. Jackson set up some chairs in rows.  He put the same number in each of 7 rows and put 7 chairs in the last row.  He set up 70 chairs.  How many did he put in each of the 7 rows?  

• 14 chairs
• 49 chairs
• 9 chairs
• 56 chairs

Julie and Sam grew tomatoes.  Julie grew 160 plants.  How many more tomatoes did Julie grow than Sam?  What information do you need to know in order to solve the problem.  

• How many plants Julie grew?
• How many plants Sam grew?

Becky has 20 fish and 2 hamsters.  There are 8 angelfish and the rest are goldfish.  She gets a number more goldfish.  She now has 19 goldfish.  How many goldfish did she get?

• 12 goldfish
• 31 goldfish
• 7 goldfish

Paco made 33 belts and gave 5 away.  He put the rest on 7 hangers with an equal number on each hanger.  How many belts are on each hanger?

• 28 belts
• 4 belts
• 25 belts

Raj is going on vacation for 2 weeks and 5 days.  How many days will he be on vacation?

• 7 days
• 19 days
• 14 days

Jason has 452 toy dinosaurs in his collection.  His sister gave him 38 more toy dinosaurs.  He sold a number of them.  He now has 418 toy dinosaurs.  How many did he sell?

• 490 toy dinosaurs
• 34 toy dinosaurs
• 72 toy dinosaurs

Ian's group has 60 granola bars for a bake sale.  His dad's group has 70 granola bars at the bake sale. Together they sell 95 granola bars at the bake sale.  How many granola bars are left over?

• 35 granola bars
• 130 granola bars
• 95 granola bars

Juan makes 21 toy cars and gives 3 away.  He puts the rest in 6 bags with an equal number in each bag.  How many toy cars are in each bag?

• 18 cars
• 12 cars
• 3 cars

Yolanda makes 12 birdhouses this month.  She makes 6 fewer birdhouse than Steve makes.  How many birdhouses does Steve make?  

• 6 birdhouses
• 12 birdhouses
• 18 birdhouses