5th grade · 13 worksheets · free printable PDFs with answer keys

5th grade math worksheets: free printable PDFs

These 5th grade math worksheets focus on the skills children need to walk into middle school math with confidence: operations with fractions and decimals, long division with two-digit divisors, and the first steps of algebra through order of operations.

Many of these sheets reward careful work more than speed. The answer key on page 2 shows the answer to each problem, with a short worked explanation on most of them, so older children can often check their own work and find their own mistakes.

Number & Operations in Base Ten (5 worksheets)

Number & Operations—Fractions (3 worksheets)

Operations & Algebraic Thinking (1 worksheet)

Geometry (2 worksheets)

Measurement & Data (2 worksheets)

What is in each PDF

Every worksheet is a two-page PDF that prints in black and white on US Letter paper. Page 1 has 8 to 12 problems on one skill, easier ones first, with room for a name and date. Page 2 is the answer key. Free to print, no sign-up.

What 5th grade math covers

Fifth grade finishes the long-arithmetic story. Children multiply multi-digit numbers with the standard method and divide by two-digit divisors. They work with powers of ten, seeing how multiplying or dividing by 10, 100 or 1,000 shifts each digit one, two or three places.

Decimals extend to thousandths. Children compare and round them, then add, subtract and multiply them. Fractions move on to unlike denominators, where a common denominator has to be found first, and to multiplying fractions and dividing with unit fractions. Dividing by a fraction surprises many children, because the answer can come out bigger than the number they started with.

Order of operations introduces the rules algebra depends on. The coordinate plane brings plotting and reading points as (x, y) pairs. Measurement covers the volume of rectangular boxes and converting within metric and customary units, and geometry asks children to classify shapes by their properties, such as knowing that every square is also a rectangle.

Using these worksheets at home

  • Let your child mark their own sheet with the key, then redo any problem they missed without looking. Finding a mistake themselves teaches more than being shown it.
  • Keep a list of multiplication facts nearby for long division. The goal of the sheet is the method, and a shaky fact should not get in the way of it.
  • For fraction sheets, ask for answers in simplest form, as the problems do, and have your child say what the common factor was.
  • Use a shoebox for volume. Measure its length, width and height together, then compare the result with what the formula predicts.

Where children get stuck

  • Lining up decimals. When adding or subtracting, the decimal points go in a column, even if the numbers have different lengths. Filling blank places with zeros helps.
  • Adding the denominators. In 2/3 + 2/6, children may add both tops and both bottoms. Remind them that the bottoms name the size of the pieces, and sizes must match first.
  • Working left to right. In 9 + 4 Ă— 7, doing the addition first gives the wrong answer. Have your child circle the multiplication before starting.
  • Mixing up x and y. A point at (4, 5) goes across 4, then up 5. Say “across, then up” each time until it becomes habit.

More for 5th grade