Basic Subtraction Word Problems

Caleb and Makena went fishing.  Caleb caught a fish that was 8 inches long.  Makena's fish was 13 inches long. How much longer was Makena's fish?

• 5

• 21

• 20

• 7

Bella has 10 crayons. Sally has 5 crayons. How many more crayons does Bella have than Sally?

• 10

• 15

• 5

• 1

The girl had 5 pets.  The 3 dogs were outside.  How many cats did she have?  What number sentence tells the story?

• 5-3=2

• 3-2=1

• 5+3=8

• 3 = 5+2

10 bats flew in the cave.  4 flew out.  How many were still in the cave?  

• 10+ 4 = 14

• 10 - 4 = 6

• 10 - 6 = 4

• 4 = 10 + 6

If Payton has 24 pencils and gives Nathalie 17 of her pencils how many pencils does Payton have left?

• 14

• 7

• 9

If Sarah has 9 cups of icing and gives her neighbor 4 cups of icing how many cups of icing does Sarah have left.

• 5

• 3

• 2

Benny picked 37 apples from the orchard, and gave 11 apples to Keith. How many apples does Benny have now ?

• 26 fruit

• 27 apples

• 15 apples

• 26 apples

• 48 apples

Tim has 32 books and he has read 7 of them. Fred bought 14 of Tim's books. How many books does Tim have now

• 25 books

• 11 books

• 7 books

• 18 books

• 53 books

Melanie has 47 blue marbles, she gave Tim 21 of the marbles. How many blue marbles does she now have ?

• 68 marbles

• 86 marbles

• 26 toys

• 25 marbles

• 26 marbles

A waiter had fifty-seven customers. If twenty-three left, how many customers would the waiter still have?

• 20 customers

• 34 customers

• 25 customers

• 11 customers