If you need 1st grade subtraction worksheets 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 4 − 2, which works out to 2; another is 5 − 1, giving 4.
‘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.
Subtraction is where arithmetic confidence is usually won or lost. The written method itself is short, but it demands that the child hold a borrowed ten in their head while working on the next column — which is why 4 − 2 can take three times as long as an addition of the same size.
Fluency here means the child can say why a column needed regrouping, not just that it did. Ask about the column that produced 4 and you will hear the difference immediately.
There are two ways to think about a subtraction such as 4 − 2: taking away, or finding the difference. Children who only know the first find 2 slowly whenever the two numbers are close together.
This sheet uses single digits, 2 through 9. That is deliberate: wide enough to force real regrouping, narrow enough that a child can still check the answer by adding back.
These 1st grade subtraction worksheets are commonly aligned with the subtraction strand of most US state standards for this grade, and the skill appears in most curricula somewhere around this point.
| # | Problem | Answer | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 − 2 = | 2 | Watch for: forgetting to reduce the column that was borrowed from |
| 2 | 5 − 1 = | 4 | Check: checking by re-subtracting |
| 3 | 8 − 4 = | 4 | Look at: borrowing across a zero |
| 4 | 6 − 5 = | 1 | Ask about: counting back one at a time |
| 5 | 2 − 1 = | 1 | Watch for: subtracting the smaller digit from the larger one |
| 6 | 9 − 4 = | 5 | Check: reading the minus sign as a plus |
Work 6 − 5 out loud as a demonstration. It gives 1. Children who hear 6 − 5 reasoned through once at the start of a session make noticeably fewer errors in the ten minutes that follow.
Here is one worked through. 5 − 1 gives 4. If your child arrives somewhere other than 4 on 5 − 1, look at the working rather than the answer: nearly every wrong result comes from a skipped step, not an unknown fact.
Keys are produced by the same code that produces the questions, so a mismatch between question and answer is not possible on these sheets.
The answer key is generated with the worksheet, not written by hand, so it always matches the sheet in front of you — 4 − 2 is listed as 2, 5 − 1 as 4, and so on down the page.
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.
To save these 1st grade subtraction worksheets 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.
Keep the finished 1st grade subtraction worksheets in date order — the drop in time across ten sheets is the clearest progress report you will get.
→ Free 1st Grade Math Worksheets · → Free Subtraction Worksheets
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