Adding 2/3 and 1/12 is not hard once the denominators match — the work is noticing they do not. These free printable worksheets put unlike denominators inside ordinary jobs, so renaming the fractions is something the story asks for rather than an exercise on its own.
Every story is two amounts measured in the same unit — cups, kilograms, liters, meters — used by two people or at two times of day. The question is either how much altogether or how much more, and either way the two fractions have to be renamed before they can be put together. Denominators are drawn so the common one is never larger than 24, which keeps the renaming mental and the arithmetic the point.
Why this sheet works
This is 5.NF.A.1 and 5.NF.A.2, the standard that sits between like denominators and multiplying fractions. Answers are exact and reduced, and a sum over one is written as a mixed number rather than an improper fraction, because that is what a measured amount reads as on paper.
How this one works
One question off this sheet, worked a step at a time — with a sentence saying what just happened and why.
1Omar had a long Saturday of baking.Omar worked the early shift and used 23 cup; Marian came in later and used 112 cup.How much more did Omar use than Marian?
2Omar measures 34 cup into the bowl, then adds 512 cup more as the recipe asks.How much flour does Omar need in all?
3Farah was doing the morning rounds at the shelter.Farah and Ravi worked on the same job. Farah used 12 kilogram and Ravi used 112 kilogram.How much did they use altogether?
4Farah set out with 34 cup for the job and had used 310 cup by lunchtime.How much is left?
