Solve Comparing Word Problems

Students will solve word problems that ask how many more or how many fewer one quantity is compared to another. Students learn to identify comparison language and use subtraction or addition to find the difference between two amounts.

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Grade 1 · Addition and Subtraction Word Problems · question 1 of 3

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12 rungs. A star at the top.

Elena has 8 plums. Hiro has 3 plums. How many more plums does Elena have?

How it is taught

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Compare means find how many more or fewer.

The difference is the extra amount.

Read it: How many more: line them up

Kim has 10 beads. Max has 6 beads. Line them up 1 to 1: 4 of Kim's beads have no partner, so Kim has 4 more beads.

Make 2 rows: 10 beads on top, 6 beads under.
Match them 1 to 1.
Count the beads with no partner: 4 more beads.

Each bead under is matched with 1 on top, so the matched beads are the same on both rows.

The beads with no partner are the extras, and the extras are how many more.

10 − 6 = 4 is the number sentence for the story.

Line them up 1 to 1. The extras are how many more.

Adding the 2 numbers because there are 2 of them: 10 + 6 = 16.

Nothing joins. Line them up and count the extras: 10 − 6 = 4.

Ava has 12 shells. Leo has 4 shells. How many more shells does Ava have? — 8. Line them up 1 to 1: 8 shells of Ava's have no partner. 12 − 4 = 8.

8 stickers vs 5 stickers — how many more?

Maya has eight stickers. Liam has five stickers. How many more stickers does Maya have than Liam?

Let's draw Maya's stickers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Now let's draw Liam's stickers right below. One, two, three, four, five.

Let's match them up. Each of Liam's stickers pairs with one of Maya's.

Look! Maya has some extra stickers that don't have a partner.

Let's count the extras: one, two, three.

We can also write this as eight take away five.

Eight minus five equals three.

Maya has three more stickers than Liam. Great comparing!

Grade 1 · Finding how many more

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal: 1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now: Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

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