Early MathCompare numbers up to 20
Name: Date:
11818
21813
3813
444
5111
677
797
81817
Greater than, less than worksheets
Before children add or subtract, they learn to judge which of two numbers is bigger. These free printable worksheets ask a child to fill the middle sign — greater than, less than, or equal to — for pairs of numbers up to twenty.
Kid stuck on one? You don’t just get the sheet.
Greater than, less than
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
Each question shows two numbers with an empty circle between them, and the child writes the symbol that makes the statement true. These sheets deliberately keep the two numbers close together — 12 and 13, not 5 and 19 — so a child has to actually compare rather than eyeball an obvious gap, and it mixes greater-than, less-than, and equal-to questions evenly instead of leaning on lopsided pairs.
Why this sheet works
Comparing is a young skill, so each sheet stays short: a small handful of pairs is plenty of focused practice for an early learner.
How this one works
One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.
18 ? 18
18 (2 digits)?18 (2 digits)
from the left:18vs18
18=18
18 (2 digits)vs18 (2 digits)
18=18
- Count the DIGITS first — more digits always wins, whatever the digits themselves say. These two are the same length, so that will not settle it and the digits do have to be read.
- Same number of digits, so now they can be compared — and from the LEFT, because the leftmost digit is worth the most.
- Every digit matches all the way along, so they are equal.
- So 18 = 18 — they are the same size, so the sign is two level lines, pointing neither way.