Subtraction word problems

Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

1. Mr. Greyson collected 122 eggs from his mini

farm on Monday, but 30 of them had cracks.
How many of the eggs can be delivered to the
market?

2. Mr. Greyson has 150 laying hens and 73 roosters.

He collected eggs from 122 hens on Monday.
How many hens did not lay eggs on that day?

3. This week, Mr. Greyson collected 36 trays of eggs

and 22 bottles of milk. He sold 28 trays of eggs.
How many trays of eggs are left?

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4. Yesterday, Justin bought 13 more goats for his
farm. His farm now has 74 goats in total. How
many goats were there before yesterday?

5. Six months ago, Justin had 137 chicks. 75 of them

became hens, while 14 chicks did not survive,
and the rest became roosters. How many chicks
grew into roosters?

6. Mr. Greyson filled 62 buckets with feed. He

already gave 18 buckets of feed to the roosters,
and the rest are for the hens. How many more
buckets of feed do the hens get compared to
the roosters?

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Answers

1. 122 – 30 = 92
Mr. Greyson has 92 eggs that can be delivered to the
market.

2. 150 – 122 = 28
28 hens did not lay eggs on Monday.

3. 36 – 28 = 8
There are 8 trays of eggs left.

4. 74 – 13 = 61
Before yesterday, Justin had 61 goats.

5. 137 – 75 – 14 = 48
48 chicks grew into roosters.

6. 62 – 18 = 44
44 – 18 = 26
The hens get 26 more buckets of feed than the
roosters.

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Subtraction word problems
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

1. Mrs. Sheridan has 11 cats. How many more cats

does Mrs. Sheridan need to have 43 cats?

2. Mrs. Sheridan has 11 cats. Mrs. Garrett has 24

cats. How many more cats does Mrs. Garrett
have than Mrs. Sheridan?

3. Mrs. Wong had 332 flowers in her garden. She

picked 21 of them and gave them to 4 friends.
How many flowers does she have left?

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4. Mrs. Franklin had 58 Valentines. Mrs. Franklin gave
some to her students. Now she has 16. How many
Valentines did Mrs. Franklin give to her students?

5. Mrs. Snyder made 86 heart cookies. She made 36

red cookies, 6 brown cookies and the rest are
pink. How many pink cookies did she make?

6. Mrs. Santiago has 3 tulips and 58 red roses. Mrs.

Garrett has 24 roses but no tulips. How many
more red roses and tulips does Mrs. Santiago
have than Mrs. Garrett?

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Answers

1. 43 – 11 = 32
She needs 32 more cats.

2. 24 – 11 = 13
She has 13 more cats.

3. 332 – 21 = 311
She has 311 left.

4. 58 – 16 = 42
She gave her students 42 Valentines.

5. 86 – 36 – 6 = 44
She made 44 pink cookies.

6. 58 – 24 = 34
3–0=3
She has 34 more roses and 3 more tulips.

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Subtraction word problems
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

1. Isabella’s hair is 185 millimeters long. If she gets a

haircut and now her hair is 44 millimeters long,
how much of Isabella’s hair got cut off?

2. Natalie’s hair is 18 inches long. By the end of the

year her hair is 24 inches long. How much hair did
she grow?

3. Jovana had 5 pounds of shells in her bucket. She

added 64 shells and now has 185 pounds of
shells. How many pounds did she add?

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4. Isha’s pencil was 31 inches long. After she
sharpens it, it is 14 inches long. How much did she
sharpen off of her pencil?

5. Bertha’s pencil is 22 inches long. If she sharpens

two inches off on Monday and two inches on
Tuesday and three inches on Wednesday, how
long will her pencil be then?

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Answers

1. 185 – 44 = 141
141 millimeters of Isabella’s hair got cut off.

2. 24 – 18 = 6
Her hair grew 6 inches.

3. 185 – 5 = 180
She added 180 pounds.

4. 31 – 14 = 17
She sharpened off 17 inches.

5. 22 – 2 – 2 – 3 = 15
Her pencil will be 15 inches long.

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Subtraction word problems
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

1. Cade had 87 marbles. He gave 18 to Dylan and

6 to Sam. How many does he have left?

2. The aquarium has a lot of fish tanks. They bought

18 more fish and now the aquarium has 149 fish.
How many fish did the aquarium have to begin
with?

3. Alyssa had 129 cookies. Aiyanna has 140 cookies

and 34 crackers. How many more cookies does
Aiyanna have than Alyssa?

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4. Daniel had some noodles. He gave 12 noodles to
William. Now Daniel only has 54 noodles. How
many noodles did Daniel have to begin with?

5. Hayley had 25 meatballs and 6 potatoes on her

plate. Kirsten stole some of her meatballs. Now
Hayley has 11 meatballs on her plate. How many
meatballs did Kirsten steal?

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Answers

1. 87 – 18 – 6 = 63
Cade has 63 marbles left.

2. 149 – 18 = 131
The aquarium had 31 fish to begin with.

3. 140 – 129 = 11
She has 11 more cookies.

4. 54 + 12 = 66
Daniel had 66 noodles to begin with.

5. 25 – 11 = 14
Kirsten stole 14 meatballs.

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Subtraction
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

This school year is about to start. The bookstore was

very busy today.

1. 78 customers came into the bookstore, and 53 of

them were regular customers. How many new
customers came into the bookstore today?

2. There was a reading area in the bookstore. There

were 59 adults who had already read Alice in
Wonderland, and the rest were children. If 78
people in total had already read the book, how
many more adults than children had read the
book?

3. Sandra had $50, and she bought coloring books

worth $23. How much money
did she have left?

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4. At the bookstore, a novel is $19, and a non-fiction
book is $2 less than the novel. If a dictionary costs
$56, how much more expensive than a non-
fiction book is a dictionary?

5. There were 43 comic books and 78 sudoku puzzle

books in the bookstore. If 7 of the comic books
were sold, how many comic books were left in
the bookstore?

6. Write the subtraction equation for this sentence:

“Jean has 78 books displayed in her room. 12 of
them are puzzle books and the rest of them are
reference books. Jean has 66 reference books in
her room.”

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Answers

1. 78 – 53 = 25
There were 25 new customers.

2. 78 – 59 = 19 children
59 – 19 = 40
There were 40 more adults than children who had
already read the book.

3. 50 – 23 = 27
She had $27 left.

4. 19 – 2 = 17
56 – 17 = 39
A dictionary is $39 more expensive than a non-fiction
book.

5. 43 – 7 = 36
There were 36 comic books left.

6. 78 – 12 = 66

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Subtraction
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

Janice works as a receptionist at a dental office.

1. 45 patients made appointments on Monday but

only 28 patients showed up. How many patients
missed their appointments?

2. On Tuesday, Janice called back the patients that

missed their appointments on Monday, but she
only reached 13 of the patients. How many
patients did she not reach?

3. 60 appointments were made on

Wednesday. By lunch time, 38 patients
visited the office. How many patients
came after the lunch time?

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4. The dental office is hiring two new nurses. They
received 80 letters of application and called 8
applicants for interviews. How many interviewees
will not get the job?

5. Janice ordered 76 boxes of masks. The supplier

delivered 22 boxes on Thursday and 31 boxes on
Friday. The rest will be delivered next week. How
many more boxes were delivered on Friday
compared to Thursday?

6. Write the subtraction sentence that fits this: “A

patient paid a $30 deposit for his appointment.
The total cost of the treatment is $85. He still
needs to pay $55 for the treatment.”

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Answers

1. 45 – 28 = 17
17 patients missed their appointments.

2. 17 – 13 = 4
She did not reach 4 patients.

3. 60 – 38 = 22
22 patients came after the lunch time.

4. 8–2=6
6 interviewees will not get the job.

5. 31 – 22 = 9
9 more boxes were delivered on Friday.

6. 85 – 30 = 55

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Subtraction
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

There was a small café at the corner of two streets

and they served coffee and light snacks during the
afternoons.

1. There were 80 mugs for hot drinks and 60 glasses

for cold drinks. One day, a waiter dropped a tray
of dishes and broke 15 mugs and 6 glasses. How
many glasses were left?

2. The manager ordered 30 new mugs and 15 new

glasses. But 6 mugs were chipped, and 5 mugs
came in with the wrong color. So, the manager
returned the broken mugs and wrong mugs. How
many new mugs were there?

3. There were 39 boxes of tuna fish sandwiches.

There were 5 boxes less of the egg salad
sandwiches. If 6 boxes of the egg salad
sandwiches turned bad, how many
boxes of egg salad were left?

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4. 48 brownies were in the fridge. When the café
was closed, only 9 brownies were left. How many
brownies were sold?

5. A waitress was pushing a cart with 18 cups of hot

coffee and 13 glasses of iced coffee. She served
5 cups of hot coffee and spilled 2 glasses of iced
coffee. How many cups of hot coffee were left
on the cart?

6. Write the subtraction sentence that fits this:

“There were 15 tables in the café and 13 tables
were taken, leaving 2 empty tables.”

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Answers

1. 60 – 6 = 54
54 glasses were left.

2. 30 – 6 – 5 = 19
There were 19 new mugs.

3. 39 – 5 – 6 = 28
There were 28 boxes of egg salad sandwiches left.

4. 48 – 9 = 39
39 brownies were sold.

5. 18 – 5 = 13
13 cups of hot coffee were left on the cart.

6. 15 – 13 = 2

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Subtraction
Grade 2 Word Problems Worksheet

The post office was having a busy time as everyone

was sending out presents and cards to their loved
ones before Christmas.

1. Before the post office opened on Monday

morning, there were 80 packs of stamps. At the
end of the day, there were 53 packs of stamps
left. How many packs of stamps were sold on
Monday?

2. 87 postcards and 76 parcels were received on

Tuesday. In the morning, the mail truck took
away 24 parcels. In the afternoon, the mail truck
took away another 19 parcels. How many
parcels are left to in the post office?

3. On Wednesday, 45 packages were sent in for

pick up. 9 of the packages had the “fragile”
label and 8 of the packages required the
recipient’s signature. How many packages did
not require signature?

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4. On Thursday, 70 customers visited the post office.
On Friday, there were 6 customers less than the
number of customers on Thursday. On Saturday,
there were 14 customers less than the number of
customers on Friday. How many customers visited
the post office on Saturday?

5. On Sunday, 80 letters were received at the post

office. However, 9 letters were not addressed
properly and needed to be returned and 7 letters
did not have enough stamps. How many letters
could be mailed out successfully?

6. Write the subtraction sentence that fits this: “2

mail trucks were ready to pick up mails. There are
27 bags of mails to be picked up. One truck
picked up 14 bags, which left 13 bags of mail for
the other truck to pickup.”

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Answers

1. 80 – 53 = 27
There were 27 packs of stamps sold.

2. 76 – 24 – 19 = 33
There were 33 parcels left.

3. 45 – 8 = 37
37 packages did not require recipient’s signature.

4. 70 – 6 – 14 = 50
50 customers visited the post office on Saturday.

5. 80 – 9 – 7 = 64
64 letters could be mailed out successfully.

6. 27 – 14 = 13

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