Can I change how many problems are on the page?

Yes — the generator takes 10, 20 or 30 problems. Twenty is the default because it fits one page and suits a 12-minute drill.

How many word problems in a session?

Far fewer than calculation problems — six to ten is a full 12 minutes, because a question like “A bottle holds 16.46 L. 3 bottles hold how many litres?” carries a reading load as well as a calculation.

Why is my child good at calculation but bad at word problems?

Because the two skills are separate. Choosing the operation is a comprehension task, and it needs its own practice — which is exactly what this sheet is for.

Will these print correctly on A4?

Yes. These decimal word problems fit both A4 and US Letter without clipping, as long as print scaling is left at 100% and browser headers and footers are switched off.

Worksheets › decimal word problems

Decimal Word Problems

If you need decimal word problems that you can print right now, this page builds them for you — 20 fresh problems, an answer key underneath, and no account to create first. A typical problem from the sheet in front of you is “Jack walks 42.79 km then 15.25 km. Total distance in km?”, which works out to 58.04; another is “Ella walks 10.48 km then 12.76 km. Total distance in km?”, giving 23.24.

📄 DECIMAL WORD PROBLEMS — A NEW SHEET EVERY TIME YOU PRESS THE BUTTON

🎲 New set of problems

‘New set of problems’ opens the generator in its own tab. There you can change the problem count and turn the answer key on or off. ‘Print or save as PDF’ opens the print dialog — choose Save as PDF in the printer list to keep the file. The sheet fits US Letter and A4, and the answer key prints on its own page.

What the sheet contains

Because the names, objects and numbers regenerate, the child cannot recognise a problem type by its wording alone.

Key words help and mislead in roughly equal measure. 'Altogether' usually means add and sometimes does not, so the child still has to picture the situation.

A word problem tests two things at once: whether the child can choose the operation, and whether they can carry it out. On a problem like “Jack walks 42.79 km then 15.25 km. Total distance in km?”, the arithmetic behind 58.04 is usually the easy part.

Answers should carry their units. A number without a unit is not an answer to a word problem, however correct the arithmetic.

These decimal word problems are commonly aligned with the problem-solving expectations for this grade, and the skill appears in most curricula somewhere around this point.

Examples taken from this worksheet

These six come from the sheet loaded on this page. Press the button and the numbers change, but the shape stays the same (two-place decimals under 50).
#	Problem	Answer	What to check
1	Jack walks 42.79 km then 15.25 km. Total distance in km?	58.04	Watch for: being thrown by unfamiliar names or objects
2	Ella walks 10.48 km then 12.76 km. Total distance in km?	23.24	Check: missing a step in a two-step problem
3	One board is 27.04 m and another is 11.31 m. How much longer is the first?	15.73 m	Look at: not checking whether the answer is sensible
4	One board is 39.17 m and another is 13.22 m. How much longer is the first?	25.95 m	Ask about: dropping the units
5	A bottle holds 16.46 L. 3 bottles hold how many litres?	49.38	Watch for: grabbing the numbers and guessing the operation
6	One board is 45.94 m and another is 5.31 m. How much longer is the first?	40.63 m	Check: answering a different question

Try one together first

Take the first problem on the sheet as it stands, “Jack walks 42.79 km then 15.25 km. Total distance in km?”. Work “Jack walks 42.79 km then 15.25 km. Total distance in km?” out on paper rather than in your head the first few times, say each step aloud, and check the result against 58.04 on the key before moving on.

Work “One board is 39.17 m and another is 13.22 m. How much longer is the first?” out loud as a demonstration. It gives 25.95 m. Children who hear “One board is 39.17 m and another is 13.22 m. How much longer is the first?” reasoned through once at the start of a session make noticeably fewer errors in the ten minutes that follow.

Three common mistakes and what to do about them

Missing a step in a two-step problem
The first calculation is done and reported as the answer. Asking 'is that what it asked for?' is the whole fix.
Answering a different question
The calculation is right and it answers a question the problem did not ask. Re-reading the last sentence before writing the answer catches almost all of these.
Not checking whether the answer is sensible
A number of children that is not whole, or a cost larger than the money available, should stop the child before an answer to “Ella walks 10.48 km then 12.76 km. Total distance in km?” is written down.

Using this sheet as a daily drill

Keep the session to about 12 minutes. A child working at this level who is still counting on fingers will need longer than that on a line like “Jack walks 42.79 km then 15.25 km. Total distance in km?”, and that is fine: the timer is a measurement, never a punishment.
Stop the session at the time limit even if the sheet is unfinished, and note where the child got to. A half sheet done well is better data than a whole sheet rushed.
Mark it together straight away while the working is still fresh, so a slip like the one behind “One board is 27.04 m and another is 11.31 m. How much longer is the first?” can be talked through instead of guessed at.
Write the finish time and the score at the top of every sheet. Two weeks of those two numbers tells you more about progress on decimal word problems than any single test result.
Use a pencil, not a pen. Children working on decimal word problems rethink far more often when erasing is allowed, and you get to see exactly where the rethinking happened on an item like “One board is 27.04 m and another is 11.31 m. How much longer is the first?”.

The answer key

Answers appear next to their question numbers, so a wrong item like “Ella walks 10.48 km then 12.76 km. Total distance in km?” can be found in the key in a second and re-worked while it is still fresh.

Keys are produced by the same code that produces the questions, so a mismatch between question and answer is not possible on these sheets.

Printing on US Letter or A4

To save these decimal word problems instead of printing them, choose 'Save as PDF' in the printer list. You get the worksheet and the answer key as a single PDF, on Letter or A4 depending on your printer settings.

Portrait orientation is what the sheet is designed for. Landscape works but wastes about a third of the paper, so leave the orientation alone unless you have a reason.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change how many problems are on the page?: Yes — the generator takes 10, 20 or 30 problems. Twenty is the default because it fits one page and suits a 12-minute drill.
How many word problems in a session?: Far fewer than calculation problems — six to ten is a full 12 minutes, because a question like “A bottle holds 16.46 L. 3 bottles hold how many litres?” carries a reading load as well as a calculation.
Why is my child good at calculation but bad at word problems?: Because the two skills are separate. Choosing the operation is a comprehension task, and it needs its own practice — which is exactly what this sheet is for.
Will these print correctly on A4?: Yes. These decimal word problems fit both A4 and US Letter without clipping, as long as print scaling is left at 100% and browser headers and footers are switched off.

Keep the finished decimal word problems in date order — the drop in time across ten sheets is the clearest progress report you will get.

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Free printable math worksheets from a working math academy director in Korea. Problems come from our own code, not from a published workbook. Every sheet prints on US Letter or A4 with its answer key. All worksheets · Worksheet generator · Korean site
Last updated: 2026-09-13