Addition and Subtraction Word Problems: math practice, Grade 2 – download the PDF

1 Marbles in a bag ★★★

Sam has 23 marbles. He wins 15 more marbles in a game. How many marbles does he have now? Write an equation with a box.

2 Cookies on a plate ★★★

There are 47 cookies on a plate. The children eat 12 cookies. How many cookies are left?

3 Tulips in the garden ★★★

A garden has 31 red tulips and 24 yellow tulips. How many tulips are in the garden in all?

4 Boys and girls ★★★

There are 56 children on a field trip. 30 of them are girls. How many are boys?

5 Two soccer teams ★★★

The red team scored 42 points. The blue team scored 35 points. How many more points did the red team score?

6 Add or subtract? ★★★

Write add or subtract for each story, and say why.

1. 18 fish are in a tank. 9 more fish join them. How many fish are in the tank?
2. A box holds 40 crackers. The twins eat 15 crackers. How many crackers are left?
3. Rosa has 27 books. Tim has 21 books. How many more books does Rosa have?

7 Fruit stand bar model ★★★

A fruit stand sold 30 apples and 24 pears. Look at the bar model and find the total number of pieces of fruit.

8 Nora’s stickers ★★★

Nora had 29 stickers. She got some more from her friend. Now she has 51 stickers. How many stickers did her friend give her? Write an equation with a box.

9 The city bus ★★★

A bus had 64 people on it. At the next stop some people got off. Now 38 people are on the bus. How many people got off?

10 Ducks on a pond ★★★

Some ducks were swimming on a pond. Then 17 more ducks came. Now there are 45 ducks. How many ducks were on the pond at first?

11 Tom’s coins ★★★

Tom had some coins. He spent 26 coins at the arcade. Now he has 39 coins left. How many coins did Tom have at the start?

12 Library shelf ★★★

A shelf holds 72 books. 45 of them are story books and the rest are fact books. How many fact books are on the shelf?

13 Who has more? ★★★

Ben has 18 stickers. Cara has 25 more stickers than Ben. How many stickers does Cara have?

14 Books we read ★★★

The bar graph shows how many books four children read this month.

1. Who read the most books?
2. How many more books did Cy read than Ben?
3. How many books did the four children read in all?

15 Eggs at the farm ★★★

A farmer has 83 eggs. She sells some eggs at the market. Now she has 47 eggs. Write an equation with a symbol, then find how many eggs she sold.

16 The pencil box ★★★

A pencil box holds 35 pencils. The teacher puts in 28 more pencils. Later, 19 pencils are given away. How many pencils are in the box now?

17 Borrowed library books ★★★

A school library has 90 books on a cart. On Monday, 38 books are borrowed. On Tuesday, 27 more books are borrowed. How many books are still on the cart?

18 Fewer pages ★★★

Dan read 37 pages. He read 19 fewer pages than Eve. How many pages did Eve read? Then find how many pages Dan and Eve read together.

19 Find the mistake ★★★

Mia solved this problem: “Jon has 12 fewer cards than Kim. Kim has 40 cards. How many cards does Jon have?” She wrote \(40 + 12 = 52\). Explain her mistake and solve the problem correctly.

20 Write your own story ★★★

Write a word problem that goes with the equation \(63 - \square = 28\). Then solve it.

21 Ribbons ★★★

A red ribbon is 48 centimeters long. A blue ribbon is 15 centimeters shorter than the red ribbon. A green ribbon is 22 centimeters longer than the blue ribbon. How long is the green ribbon?

22 The school bus ★★★

A bus carries 26 children and 18 adults. At the zoo, 14 people get off at the gate. How many people are on the bus now?