Identifying place value digits worksheets

The tens digit of 347 is 4 — reading a digit straight off its place is the other half of knowing what that digit is worth. These free printable sheets name a place and ask for the digit that sits there.

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

Identifying place value digits
Identifying place value digits worksheet — 2-, 3-, or 4-digit numbers, no zeros, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

This is the inverse of “what is the underlined digit worth”. There the answer for the 4 in 347 is 40; here the question names the place — the tens — and the answer is the bare digit, 4. Reading places from the right, ones then tens then hundreds then thousands, is the whole of it, and a child who answers 40 has read a good question as a different one.

Why this sheet works

No number on these pages contains a zero, anywhere. “The tens digit of 407” has the answer 0, which is a digit a child cannot see the point of writing down — the question stops being about the place it names. Leaving zeros out keeps every question about locating a real digit in a real column.

How this one works

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

Which digit is in the ones of 564?

number:564
number:564
number:564
4
  1. Each column is worth ten times the one to its right. Counting them is what tells you the value; the name on its own is the thing that goes wrong under pressure.
  2. Nothing is circled here — the place is what you were given, so count in from the right until you reach the ones.
  3. The question wants the digit standing there, not what it is worth: 4.