Subtraction Word Problems Notes & Questions | Class 1 Mathematics | Drishti OS

Subtraction Word Problems

NCERT anchor: NCERT Joyful Mathematics Class 1 — Chapter 5: How Many Ate? (story sums)

What you'll learn

Read a short story and decide whether to subtract.
Find the answer to "how many are left" and "how many more" story problems, up to 20.
Write a number sentence (like 12 − 5 = 7) from a story.

Key concepts

1. Spotting subtraction clue words

Words like left, flew away, sold, ate, gave away, lost, less than, more than often mean subtraction.

2. "How many are left" stories

A tree has 12 birds. 5 fly away. "How many birds are left?" means 12 − 5.

3. "How many more" stories

Aman has 9 pencils. Zara has 6 pencils. "How many more pencils does Aman have?" means 9 − 6 = 3. This is called comparing two groups.

4. Turning a story into a number sentence

Underline the two numbers and the action word. Decide the bigger number goes first, then subtract the smaller number.

Worked example

The samosa stall

Step 1 — Read: "A stall had 14 samosas. By evening, 9 samosas were sold. How many are left?"
Step 2 — Underline the numbers: 14 and 9. The word "sold" means take away.
Step 3 — Write the number sentence: 14 − 9.
Step 4 — Count back or use a number line: 14 − 9 = 5.
Answer: 5 samosas are left.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why	Fix
Adding instead of subtracting	Not noticing clue words like "left" or "sold"	Underline the action word first and ask "are we joining or removing?"
Subtracting the bigger number from itself wrongly	Putting numbers in the wrong order	The bigger number always comes first in "how many more" problems
Forgetting the answer's unit	Writing just a number	Always write what the number means, e.g. "5 samosas"

Quick check

A basket has 10 apples. 4 apples are eaten. How many apples are left?
Ravi has 13 stickers. Meena has 8 stickers. How many more stickers does Ravi have?
16 children are on a bus. 6 children get off. How many children remain?
Stretch: A garden had 18 flowers. 5 flowers were picked in the morning and 4 more in the evening. How many flowers are left in the garden?

Revision tip: Read every subtraction story twice — once to understand it, once to underline the numbers and the action word.

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on Subtraction Word Problems.

Subtraction Word Problems