Area of figuresTrapezoids
Name: Date:
Find the area. Lengths are in cm; the dashed line is the height.
1 cm²
2 cm²
3 cm²
4 cm²
5 cm²
6 cm²
7 cm²
8 cm²
Area of a trapezoid worksheets
A trapezoid has two parallel sides of different lengths, so its area averages them and multiplies by the height. These free printable worksheets drill that one figure, cut from the mixed area page.
Kid stuck on one? You don’t just get the sheet.
Area of a trapezoid
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
Splitting the trapezoid off from the triangles and parallelograms it is usually mixed with lets a child settle the three-step formula before choosing between shapes. Add the two parallel sides, halve the total, then multiply by the height — in that order.
Why this sheet works
Both parallel sides carry a number and the height is the dashed line between them, with the slant sides left unlabeled so they cannot be mistaken for the height. The average of the two bases is a length that is not drawn anywhere on the figure, which is the idea worth pausing on: it is the width the trapezoid would have if it were straightened into a rectangle of the same area.
How this one works
One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.
Area of a trapezium, 15 and 20 by 4
- A trapezium. Two of its numbers matter and they are not the two longest lines — find them before working anything out.
- The two PARALLEL sides are 15 cm and 20 cm. They are the pair that counts.
- The height is the DASHED line — straight up from the base, at a right angle to it: 4 cm. It is not the sloping side, even though the sloping side is longer and is written right next to it.
- Average the two parallel sides: (15 + 20) ÷ 2 = 17.5. That is the width of the rectangle this trapezium is worth.
- Then it is that width times the height: 17.5 × 4 = 70 square cm.