Math PicnicFree printable practice

Adding and subtracting decimals worksheets

Adding and subtracting decimals is one skill with one rule: line up the decimal points. These free printable worksheets keep the numbers friendly so a child practices the lining-up, not big arithmetic.

Customize Practice Save as PDF New questions

Kid stuck on one? You don’t just get the sheet.

See it worked step by step →Answer it on screen →
Adding and subtracting decimals
Adding and subtracting decimals worksheet — Tenths and hundredths, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

The whole difficulty of decimal addition is place value — 0.4 and 0.04 look alike but are ten times apart, so the points must sit in one column. Our sheets print in a vertical form that stacks the points for you, or a horizontal form once a child is ready to keep track alone. You choose tenths or hundredths, and every pair uses the same number of places so the columns stay honest.

Why this sheet works

Answers are computed exactly, never as rounded floating-point, so 0.1 + 0.2 is always 0.3 on the key.

How this one works

One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.

12.92 − 8.23

012812 12.92 8.23 4.69
  1. 12.92 − 8.23. Line the POINTS up under each other — not the right-hand ends. Right-aligning is what turns 12.5 + 3.75 into a tidy-looking wrong answer.
  2. 2 is too small to take 3 from, so a ten comes across from the left: this column now holds 12. 12 − 3 = 9.
  3. This column gave a ten to the right, so it is now 8, not 9. 8 − 2 = 6.
  4. 2 is too small to take 8 from, so a ten comes across from the left: this column now holds 12. 12 − 8 = 4.
  5. This column gave a ten to the right, so it is now 0, not 1. 0 − 0 = 0. A nothing at the front is not written, so the answer starts one place along.
  6. The point in the answer comes straight down from the ones above it — it was never moved, only lined up. 12.92 − 8.23 = 4.69.

Pick another skill