Year 5 · Autumn term · Addition and subtraction · Step 3
Year 5 Subtracting large whole numbers worksheets
Use column subtraction with numbers of more than four digits. A free editable Word sheet with eight fluency and six reasoning questions. The answers follow the questions: the same sheet again with every answer in red.
Download the worksheets
Print on A4 portrait: every page carries the sheet twice, side by side, so you can cut down the middle and two pupils each get a half to stick in their books. Every question sits in its own box and pupils write their answers in their book. The answers follow the questions in the file: the same sheet again with every answer in red. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice, so you can change numbers, delete questions or add your own. There is no scaffolded version of this step yet.
Not scaffolded sheet
The same questions without the extra support. For pupils working at the expected standard: eight fluency questions first, then the reasoning questions.
Sample questions from this step
These are real questions from the first set of the sheet (two from the fluency page, two from the reasoning page). Open each one to see the answer.
- Complete the column subtraction. Write the missing digits in the answer.Answer: ____
Show the answer
3,276
- Use the column method to work out the subtractions. Write the units in your answer.a) £94,768 − £6,917 = ____b) 93,634 g − 248 g = ____c) £36,719 − £26,160 = ____
Show the answer
£87,851; 93,386 g; £10,559
- This is how I worked out 45,193 − 27,234.Is Boba correct? Circle yes or no.Circle yes or no.What is the correct answer? ____Explain Boba’s mistake.
Show the answer
No; 17,959; 45,193 − 27,234 = 17,959. Boba took the smaller digit from the bigger digit in every column. When the top digit is smaller, exchange from the next column.
- Teddy and Jack play a computer game. Teddy scores 44,985 points. Jack scores 14,487 fewer points than Teddy.a) How many points does Jack score? ____b) How many points do they score altogether? ____
Show the answer
30,498; 75,483
What is on each sheet
- Fluency: eight questions that start easy and get harder, with the key skill of the step practised in different ways.
- Reasoning: questions with pictures, tables and number lines (spot the mistake, true or false and explain, puzzles with one answer, an open-ended task).
- Answers in the same file: the sheet again with every answer in red, so there is only one file to download.
- Boba characters give the instructions in speech bubbles. They are decoration only.
Why one set of questions?
- Everyone works on the same content, and support comes from scaffolds instead of different, easier tasks. This follows the mastery approach described by the NCETM and the thinking in Ofsted's 2021 mathematics research review.
- Worked examples and visual representations lighten the load for pupils who need it, as the Education Endowment Foundation describes.