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Subtraction Word Problems Up to 1000

This lesson shows how to turn everyday stories into subtraction number sentences using numbers up to 1000. Students learn to spot key words, draw bar models to picture the parts and whole, subtract with regrouping, and check their answer with addition, all through clear worked examples.

What Are Subtraction Word Problems Up to 1000?

A subtraction word problem describes a real situation in words instead of giving you a ready-made number sentence. Your job is to read the story, decide that subtraction is the right operation, and then subtract two numbers that can be as large as three digits, meaning anywhere up to 1000. These problems usually fall into one of two types: "take away" problems, where an amount is removed from a total, and "comparison" problems, where you find how much bigger or smaller one amount is than another.

Key Words That Signal Subtraction

Before you can write a number sentence, you have to notice the clues in the story. Look for phrases such as:

left, left over, remaining
fewer, less than
difference between
how many more, how much more
gave away, spent, sold, used

These words tell you that something is being removed or compared, which almost always means subtraction.

Steps to Solve a Subtraction Word Problem

Read the problem carefully and underline the numbers and the key words.
Decide what the "whole" is and what the "part" you already know is.
Write the subtraction number sentence, whole minus known part equals missing part.
Subtract the three-digit numbers, regrouping across columns when needed.
Check the answer and make sure it makes sense with the story.

If your regrouping across the ones, tens, and hundreds places still feels shaky, it helps to first practice subtracting with digits up to 1000 on its own before applying it inside a word problem.

Using a Bar Model to Picture the Problem

A bar model helps you see the whole amount and the part you are taking away, so you don't guess which number goes first.

The top bar is the whole, the bottom bars are the two parts. Subtract the known part from the total to find the missing part.

Worked Example 1: Take Away Problem

A farmer picks 542 apples. He sells 187 of them at the market. How many apples does he have left?

The whole is 542 and the known part is 187, so the number sentence is \( 542 - 187 = ? \). Subtract column by column, starting from the ones place. Since 2 is smaller than 7, regroup a ten from the tens column. Since the new tens digit is still smaller than what you need, regroup a hundred from the hundreds column too. Working through this gives \( 542 - 187 = 355 \). The farmer has 355 apples left.

Worked Example 2: Comparison Problem

A school library has 428 fiction books and 356 non-fiction books. How many more fiction books are there than non-fiction books?

The word "more" tells you this is a comparison, so you subtract the smaller amount from the larger amount: \( 428 - 356 = ? \). Subtracting the ones and tens columns requires regrouping, and the result is \( 428 - 356 = 72 \). There are 72 more fiction books than non-fiction books.

Checking Your Answer

Once you have a difference, add it back to the part you subtracted. It should give you the original total. For example, \( 355 + 187 = 542 \), which matches the total from Worked Example 1, so the subtraction is correct. It's also smart to estimate before you subtract by rounding both numbers, a skill covered in Subtraction using Estimation, so you can catch a mistake if your exact answer is way off from your estimate. If you'd rather subtract without writing every regrouping step, you can also compare your work against Subtraction using Mental Strategies for faster ways to reach the same answer.

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