Missing number subtraction, step by step
These free printable worksheets blank out one number in a subtraction sentence within twenty.
The question
2 − ? = 2
2−?=2
2−?=2
2−2=0
2−0=2
- The gap is not at the end this time — the ANSWER is already there. What is missing is one of the two numbers going in, so the sum cannot just be worked left to right.
- 2 lost something and 2 was left, so what went is the difference between them: 2 − 2.
- Put it back in to be sure: 2 − 0 = 2. It holds, so the missing number is 0.
How it works.
- 01
The gap is not at the end this time — the ANSWER is already there. What is missing is one of the two numbers going in, so the sum cannot just be worked left to right.
- 02
2 lost something and 2 was left, so what went is the difference between them: 2 − 2.
- 03
Put it back in to be sure: 2 − 0 = 2. It holds, so the missing number is 0.