Word problem for grade 3

Word problems for third grade

Math word problems help deepen a student’s understanding of mathematical concepts by relating mathematics to everyday life. 

These worksheets are best attempted after a student has studied the underlying skill; for example, our ‘addition in columns» word problem worksheets should not be attempted until students are comfortable with addition in columns. 

In many of our word problems we intentionally include superfluous data, so that students need to read and think about the questions carefully, rather than simply applying a computation pattern to solve the problems.

Addition word problems for third grade

Simple addition word problems

Column form addition word problems

Mixed add and subtract word problems

Subtraction word problems

Simple subtraction word problems

Subtraction in columns word problems

Multiplication word problems

Simple multiplication word problems

Multiples of 10

Multiplying in columns

More multiplication word problems

Mixed multiply & divide word problems

Division word problems

Simple division word problems

Long division word problems

Fraction word problems

Identifying and comparing fractions word problems

Adding and subtracting fractions word problems

Mixed 3rd grade word problems

The following worksheets contain a mix of grade 3 addition, subtraction, multiplication and division word problems.  Mixing math word problems tests the understanding mathematical concepts, as it forces students to analyze the situation rather than mechanically apply a solution.

Mixed word problems — mental math 

Mixed word problems — column math

Mixed word problems — simpler form  (shorter texts, no superfluous data)

Measurement word problems for grade 3

These word problems combine the 4 operations with real world units of length, time, volume and mass. There is no conversion of units.

Length word problems

Time word problems

Mass & weight word problems

Volume & capacity word problems.

Word problems with variables

These grade 3 word problems introduce students to using variables («x, y, etc.») to represent unknowns. The problems are relatively simple, but emphasize the use of variables and the writing of equations.

Word problems with variables (variable is chosen for the student)

Writing variables to solve word problems (student chooses the variable)

Opening your daily math lesson with a Math Word Problem of the Day is an excellent way to set the stage for learning. We all know that word problems are difficult for young learners to grasp, even when the mathematical operation portion of the problem is basic. Incorporate these third grade math word problems one day at a time at the start of your math block to build confidence, critical thinking skills, and a learning community. Students will get used to reading slowly for meaning, while also identifying key information. Encourage students to write out equations and draw pictures to explain their thinking, since this helps them see the light when they are stuck!

Topics covered include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, mixed operation, fractions, area and perimeter, and measurement. All you need to do is post one of these third grade math word problems on your whiteboard or projector screen, then let kids take it from there.

Want this entire set of word problems in one easy document? Get your free PowerPoint bundle by submitting your email here.

1. Gage went shopping and bought 19 cupcakes, 18 apple pies, and 47 glazed donuts. How many items did he buy altogether?

2. A shelter is taking care of 384 cats. 176 more arrive. How many cats are in the shelter now?

3. Gabby has 42 books on her bookshelf. Her dad gives her 23 more for her birthday. How many books does Gabby have now?

4. There were 823 people attending a soccer game after 37 people left. How many people were at the game before the people left?

5. Mr. Washington has 44 pencils. He found 37 pencils inside of the cubbies and opened a new pack of 60 pencils. How many pencils does Mr. Washington have in all?

6. Jeff plays Minecraft. On Monday he played for 67 minutes. On Tuesday he played for 32 minutes, and on Wednesday he played for 43 minutes. How many total minutes did Jeff play during the week?

7. Smith Elementary School has 286 boys and 241 girls. What is the total number of students that attend Smith Elementary?

8. Ashley rides her bike to school every day. The ride from her house to her school takes 21 minutes. If she has already been biking for 17 minutes, how much longer does she have to ride before she arrives at school?

9. Jason baked 93 cookies to sell at the school bake sale. He plans to take home whatever cookies he doesn’t sell. If he sold 77 cookies, how many cookies will he take home?

10. A school collects money for T-shirts. Third graders collected $327. Fourth graders collected 138 fewer dollars. How much money did fourth graders collect?

11. Hayden has 610 stickers. There are 250 in a white box and some in a yellow box. How many are in the yellow box?

12. The table shows students’ class points. Which two students’ scores have a difference of 15 points?

13. Ms. Brady has 356 tomato plants. She sells 91 of the plants and gives 49 of the plants away. How many tomato plants does Ms. Brady have left?

14. David’s mom buys apples for his class. There are 5 rows of 4 green apples. There is 1 row of 4 red apples. Fill in the blanks to complete the expressions.

15. A box of chocolates has 14 rows. There are 6 pieces of chocolate in each row. How many pieces of chocolate are in the box?

16. Christy and Jan are playing a card game. Christy has 4 cards and Jan has 4 times as many cards. How many cards do they have together?

17. Emerson is in charge of collecting the basketballs at the end of gym class. There are 6 bins, and 7 basketballs can fit in each bin. How many basketballs are there if each bin is full?

18. Luz had two pages of homework. Each page had five problems on it. How many total problems did she have to complete?

19. Keyanna was drawing on scrap paper. She could fit seven drawings on each page. If she has three pieces of paper, how many drawings can she make?

20. A bakery sells one sugar cookie for $2.00. How much will a dozen sugar cookies cost?

21. Mrs. Smith is getting her classroom ready for the first day of school. She has 25 students in her class. She wants 5 students to sit at every table. How many tables will she need?

22. Alex is organizing his school supplies. He has 141 index cards. He wants to split them into 3 piles.  How many cards will each pile get?

23. Mrs. Blackley’s class plays a review game. The class earns 5 points every time they answer a question correctly. On Monday, the class earns 50 points playing the game. How many questions did the class answer correctly?

24. Maria has 56 gummy bears. She will give all the gummy bears to 8 of her friends. Each friend will get the same number. How many gummy bears will each friend receive?

25. Daniel has 63 coins and 9 piggy banks. If each piggy bank has the same number of coins, how many coins are in each piggy bank?

26. Leslie has 32 dolls in 4 baskets. Each basket has the same number of dolls. How many dolls are in each basket?

27. Levi has 10 fish in his fish tank. 4 fish are goldfish and the rest are minnows. What fraction of the fish are goldfish?

28. Melanie has 8 colored pencils. 3 are green, 2 are yellow, and 3 are blue. What fraction of the pencils are blue?

29. Hannah has a bag of M&M’s. There are 24 M&M’s in the bag. 8 are red, 6 are green, 7 are yellow, and 3 are brown. What fraction of the M&M’s are brown?

30. Mr. Brown needs to order pizza for 18 students. He wants each student to have ¼ of a pizza. How many pizzas should he order?

31. The class took a survey about favorite animals. ¼ of students chose lions as their favorite animal, and ½ of the students chose elephants. The other students chose either sharks or whales. Partition a circle graph to show these results.

32. John wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday. After blowing out the candles, he cut the cake. Out of his 12 party guests, only 6 ate cake. John let his friend Jackson take half the remaining cake home. What fraction of the cake was left over?

33. The area of a rectangle is 72 square units. One side has a length of 9 units. What is the other side length?

34. Monico drew a shape. It was a quadrilateral, and all sides were the same length. Which shape did Monico draw?

35. Gloria is buying a new rug for her bedroom floor. If the floor measures 12 feet x 12 feet, which size rug does she need?

36. The area of Happytown is 42 square miles. If the length is 7 miles, what is the perimeter of the town?

37. Aiden read 2 pages in his chapter book every day for 7 days. The book has 32 total pages. How many pages does Aiden have left to read?

38. Sophia has a twenty dollar bill. She buys six pop-it fidget toys for $2 each. How much money does Sophia have left?

39. There are 10 people at a cookout. Each person will eat 2 hot dogs. There are 8 hot dogs in a package. How many packages are needed?

40. Mrs. Potter bought 160 index cards. She gave the first row 55 index cards, then the second row 72 index cards. How many does she have left to give to the last row?

41. Samantha has 38 markers. She gives 29 markers to her classmates. Then she opens a new pack of 15 markers. How many markers does she have now?

42. There were 18 volleyballs in a bag and 13 volleyballs in a basket. 10 of these were used at recess. How many volleyballs were not used?

43. Mrs. Horton has 1 gallon of milk. She poured out 3 cups of milk. How many cups of milk does she have left?

44. Mark needs to buy yarn for 5 friends to do a science activity. Each friend needs 2 feet of green yarn and 1 foot of purple yarn. How many yards of yarn does Mark need to buy?

45. Nadine’s new jump rope is 4 inches longer than her old jump rope. Her old jump rope was 32 inches long. How long is Nadine’s new jump rope?

46. Dervin lined paper clips up in two rows. Each row was 18 feet long. How many feet of paper clips did Dervin have if he added the two rows together?

47. London started looking for her missing dog at 2:10 pm. It took her 43 minutes to find him. What time did London find her dog?

48. Damon took a train from his house to downtown. The train left the station at 1:08 pm and traveled 33 minutes before arriving downtown. What time did the train arrive?

49. Hannah worked on her homework for 37 minutes. If she started at 7:14 pm, what time did she finish her homework?

50. Kevin started cleaning his room at 6:03 pm. If he finally finished at 6:40 pm, how long did Ned spend cleaning his room?

If you like these third grade math word problems, check out our third grade hub for even more resources.

Get a PPT version of these word problems.

Word Problems

3rd Grade Addition and Subtraction

3-digit and 4-digit Word Problems

3rd Grade Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

3-digit Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

4-digit Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

The word problems all involve either addition or subtraction (both with and without regrouping).

Harder 2-Step Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

Looking for some easier worksheets?

More Recommended Math Worksheets

Take a look at some more of our worksheets similar to these.

More 3rd Grade Addition and Subtraction Worksheets

Here you will find some more of our Addition and Subtraction Worksheet generators for creating your own bespoke addition and subtraction worksheets.

More 3rd Grade Math Word Problems

Addition and Subtraction Word Problems to 1000 Online Quiz

Math-Salamanders.com

Related Topics:
Lesson
Plans and Worksheets for Grade 3
Lesson
Plans and Worksheets for all Grades
More
Lessons for Grade 3
Common Core For Grade 3

Videos, examples, solutions, and lessons to help Grade 3 students learn to use
multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in
situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement
quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for
the unknown number to represent the problem.

Common Core: 3.OA.3

Suggested Learning Target

• I can determine when to multiply and divide in word problems.
• I can represent multiplication and division word problems
  using drawings, and equations with unknowns in all positions.

Unknown Product
Equal Groups — There are 3 bags with 6 plums in each
bag. How many plums are there in all?
Equal Groups (Measurement) — You need 3 lengths of
string, each 6 inches long. How much string will you need
altogether?
Array — There are 3 rows of apples with 6 apples
in each row. How many apples are there?
Area — What is the area of a 3 cm by 6 cm
rectangle?
Compare — A blue hat costs $6. A red hat costs 3
times as much as the blue hat. How much does the red hat cost?
Compare (Measurement) — A rubber band is 6 cm long.
How long will the rubber band be when it is stretched to be 3 times
as long?

3 × 6 = ?

Group Size Unknown
Equal Groups — If 18 plums are shared equally into 3
bags, then how many plums will be in each bag?
Equal Groups (Measurement) — You have 18 inches of
string, which you will cut into 3 equal pieces. How long will each
piece of string be?
Array — If 18 apples are arranged into 3 equal
rows, how many apples will be in each row?
Area — A rectangle has area 18 square centimeters.
If one side is 3 cm long, how long is the side next to it?
Compare — A red hat costs $18 and that is 3 times
as much as a blue hat costs. How much does a blue hat cost?
Compare (Measurement) — A rubber band is stretched
to be 18 cm long and that is 3 times as long as it was at first. How
long was the rubber band at first?

3 × ? = 18
18 ÷ 3 = ?

Number of Groups Unknown
Equal Groups — If 18 plums are packed 6 to a bag, then
how many bags are needed?
Equal Groups (Measurement) — You have 18 inches of
string, which you will cut into pieces that are 6 inches long. How
many pieces of string will you have?
Array — If 18 apples are arranged in equal rows of
6 apples, how many rows will there be?
Area — A rectangle has area 18 square centimeters.
If one side is 6 cm long, how long is the side next to it?
Compare — A red hat costs $18 and a blue hat costs
$6. How many times as much does the red hat cost as the blue hat?
Compare (Measurement) — A rubber band was 6 cm
long at first. Now it is stretched to be 18 cm long. How many times
as long is the rubber band now as it was at first?

? × 6 = 18
18 ÷ 6 =

Multiplication Word Problems

Multiplying Using Groups
2 × 3 means 2 groups of 3
3 × 2 means 3 groups of 2
Example:
5 girls each check out 3 books at the library. Write the multiplication equation that represents this situation.

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Understand multiplication problems using equal groups
One way to solve multiplication facts is by making equal groups. Equal groups is creating groups withe the same number of pieces in each group.
When solving equal groups, count the number of groups first, then count the pieces in each group.
The multiplication sentence shows the number of groups first and the number of pieces in each group.
The total number of piece is called the product. It is the answer to the problem.

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Solving Multiplication Facts with Arrays
In this lesson, you will learn how to solve multiplication problems
by creating an array.
Multiplication is combining equal groups of objects.
An array shows equal groups of rows and columns.
When solving an array, count the rows first, then count the pieces in each row.
The multiplication sentence shows the rows first and the pieces in each row.

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Learning to Multiply using Multiplication Strategies
Multiplication is combining equal groups together.
The parts of a multiplication sentence are factors and the product.
Four strategies to help with multiplication are:
• Arrays
• Equal Groups
• Repeated Addition
• Number lines

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Multiplication with Bar Models
The second graders collect 65 books for the book drive. They put
some of the books in boxes and have 25 books left to pack. The third
graders have four times as many books in boxes. There are none left
to pack. How many books did the third graders collect?

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Writing Division Equations to Solve Word Problems: 3.OA.3

Learn the parts of a division equation and how division relates to multiplication in order to write and solve a division word problem.
Examples:
1. Evan is making spaghetti and meatballs for his friends. He makes 30 meatballs. He wants 5 meatballs in each plate of spaghetti. How many plates can Evan make?
2. Kevin is making sandwiches. He has 16 slices of bread. He needs 2 slices of bread for each sandwich. How many sandwiches can Kevin build? Build and equation to represent this problem.

• Show Step-by-step Solutions

Try the free Mathway calculator and
problem solver below to practice various math topics. Try the given examples, or type in your own
problem and check your answer with the step-by-step explanations.

We welcome your feedback, comments and questions about this site or page. Please submit your feedback or enquiries via our Feedback page.

Math Word Problems for Third Graders

Help Kids Master Basic Math and Boost Problem-Solving Skills

Updated on September 01, 2019

Word problems allow students the opportunity to apply their math skills in authentic situations. All too often, children who are able to solve numeric problems find themselves at a loss when faced with a word problem. Some of the best problems to work with are those in which the unknown factor is located in either the beginning or the middle of the problem. For example, instead of saying, «I have 29 balloons and the wind blew eight of them away,» and then asking «How many do I have left?» try something like this instead: «I had a lot of balloons but the wind blew eight of them away. Now I only have 21 balloons left. How many did I have to begin with?» Or, «I had 29 balloons, but the wind blew some away, and I only have 21 now. How many balloons did the wind blow away?»

Word Problem Examples

As teachers and parents, we’re often very good at creating or using word problems in which the unknown value is located at the end of the question. Unfortunately, this type of problem can prove too challenging for young children. By changing the position of the unknown you can create problems that are easier for beginning math students to solve.

Another type of problem that’s great for young learners is a two-step problem, which requires them to solve for one unknown before solving for another. Once young students have mastered basic word problems, they can practice two-step (and three-step) problems to work on more challenging concepts. These problems help students learn how to process and relate complex sets of information. Here are some examples:

1. Each case of oranges has 12 rows of 12 oranges. The school principal wants to buy enough oranges to make sure that every student gets an orange. There are 524 students in the school. How many cases does the principal need to buy?
2. A woman wants to plant tulips in her flower garden. She has enough room to plant 24 tulips. The tulips can be purchased in bunches of five for $7.00 per bunch, or they can be purchased for $1.50 each. The woman wants to spend as little money as possible. What should she do and why?
3. The 421 students at Eagle School are going on a trip to the zoo. Each bus has 72 seats. There are also 20 teachers going on the trip to supervise the students. How many buses are needed to make sure that all of the students and teachers are able to go to the zoo?

Students will often need to re-read a question to make sure they have all of the information they need. They should also be encouraged to read the question again to be certain that they actually understand what the question is asking them to solve for.

Worksheet #1

This worksheet features several basic word problems for young math students.

Worksheet #2

This worksheet features a set of intermediate word problems for young students who have already mastered basic skills. To solve these problems, students will need to have an understanding of how to count money.

Worksheet #3

This worksheet features several multi-step problems for advanced students.