These second grade subtraction worksheets cover 2-digit numbers within 100, with and without borrowing, and a first look at 3-digit numbers. The opening sheet prints 12 stacked problems that all borrow, as in 52 − 27 = 25.
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Subtraction worksheets for grade 2 with borrowing, in three steps
Print the 2-digit subtraction without regrouping worksheets until the layout is automatic. Move to the opening sheet, where every problem borrows, and use Tens and ones headers over every problem if pupils forget what the little 1 stands for. Finish with Full page, 30 two-digit problems, where borrowing comes at random.
What grade 2 meets beyond 100
Common Core 2.NBT.7 takes grade 2 to 1,000 with concrete models or drawings, and 2.NBT.8 asks for 10 less or 100 less mentally. The last group prints 3-digit minus 2-digit, borrowing once, as in 254 − 38 = 216, and 3-digit minus a multiple of 100.
An answer of 35 for 52 − 27 means the 2 was taken from the 7.
Have pupils say 4 tens and 12 ones aloud before they subtract; it is still 52.
Questions and answers
Is borrowing the same as regrouping?
Yes. Borrowing, regrouping and trading all name one move: a ten is opened into 10 ones so the ones column has enough. Common Core 2.NBT.7 words it as decomposing tens or hundreds. The sheet names here use both words.
How do you teach 2-digit subtraction with regrouping?
Show 34 − 16 with blocks: 3 rods and 4 units. Six units cannot come from 4, so one rod is traded for 10 units. Then 14 units less 6 is 8 and 2 rods less 1 is 1, so the answer is 18.
Are there subtraction word problems for second grade?
Yes, two sheets of four stories. In Take-from word problems within 100 a shop has 64 stickers and sells 28. Compare word problems: how many more or fewer? asks for a gap, as in 45 − 29 = 16. The key prints each number sentence.
All 16 sheet types
2-digit minus 2-digit 5
2-digit subtraction with borrowingThe opening sheet: 12 stacked problems that all borrow, such as 52 − 27 = 25. There are 2 ones and 7 to take, so a ten is opened: 5 tens become 4 tens, 2 ones become 12 ones, and 12 − 7 = 5. Schools also call this move regrouping or trading.
2-digit subtraction without regroupingEvery top digit is at least as big as the digit under it, so nothing is borrowed: 68 − 25 = 43 is 8 take away 5 in the ones and 6 take away 2 in the tens. Start here to learn the layout, and insist on ones first even though the order cannot matter yet.
Answers under 10: 43 − 38 and the likeThe two numbers are close, so every answer is a single digit: 43 − 38 = 5. After borrowing, the tens come to 3 take away 3, and no 0 is written in front of the 5. It is also a good page for counting up: 38 to 40 is 2, and 40 to 43 is 3 more.
Show all 16 sheet types (13 more)
2-digit minus 2-digit, continued
Full page, 30 two-digit problemsThirty problems in 5 rows of 6, such as 91 − 56 = 35, with borrowing mixed in at random. There is little room to write, so save it for pupils who already cross out and rewrite the tens neatly and need a longer run at a steady pace.
Tens and ones headers over every problemA small T and O sit over each problem and a faint line separates the columns. In 63 − 28 = 35 the borrowed ten moves across that line, from under the T to under the O, which helps pupils say what the little 1 stands for: a ten, now 10 ones.
Tens and ones, one at a time 4
2-digit minus 1-digit, staying in the same tenNo ten is crossed: 48 − 5 = 43 is a one-digit fact with 4 tens standing by. Print it beside the crossing-a-ten sheet, so pupils learn to check the ones before they decide how to work.
2-digit minus whole tensOnly the tens digit changes: 74 − 30 = 44, because 7 tens take away 3 tens is 4 tens and the 4 ones are untouched. On a hundred chart it is three squares straight up. A pupil who starts counting back in ones has not seen the tens yet.
From a whole ten: 60 − 27 and the likeThe top number ends in 0, so there are no ones at all and a ten has to be opened every time: 60 − 27 = 33. An answer of 47 means the 7 was copied down under the 0. Grade 3 meets the same trap again, one place to the left, in 500 − 237.
Whole tens minus whole tensBoth numbers are whole tens, as in 80 − 30 = 50. Read it as 8 tens take away 3 tens, which is a one-digit fact with a zero on the end. Twenty problems side by side, as a warm-up before the ones column gets involved.
Warm-ups and work in your head 3
10 less or 100 less in your headNo columns here. Each problem asks for 10 less or 100 less than a 3-digit number, such as 347 − 100 = 247, where only the hundreds digit moves. Common Core 2.NBT.8 asks grade 2 to do this mentally for numbers from 100 to 900, and Texas 2.7(B) goes up to 1,200.
Subtraction facts within 20, a 20-problem warm-upTwenty facts with numbers up to 20, side by side, such as 15 − 7 = 8. Common Core 2.OA.2 asks grade 2 for fluency within 20 using mental strategies, and Texas 2.4(A) asks for recall with automaticity. When this page is slow, the ones column of every 2-digit problem is slow too.
Subtraction within 100 warm-up, mixed sizesTwelve stacked problems drawn from every number up to 100, so 64 − 8 = 56 can sit beside a 2-digit pair. No rule decides which problems borrow, and 0 is never taken away. It works as a quick check at the start of a unit, before you know which step a pupil needs.
Word problems 2
Compare word problems: how many more or fewer?Nothing leaves in these stories. Maya has 45 stickers and Ben has 29, and the question is how many more Maya has or how many fewer Ben has: 45 − 29 = 16. Common Core 2.OA.1 lists comparing beside taking from and taking apart, and pupils do not always see it as subtraction.
Take-from word problems within 100Four short stories where something leaves. A shop has 64 stickers and sells 28 of them, and the question is how many it has now: 64 − 28 = 36. Each box has room for the number sentence and a drawing, and the answer key gives the sentence as well as the number.
A first look at 3-digit numbers 2
3-digit minus 2-digit, borrowing onceThe number on top has three digits and the one below has two, so nothing sits under the hundreds. In 254 − 38 = 216 a ten is borrowed for the ones and the 2 hundreds come straight down. Exactly one column borrows in each problem; in 324 − 51 = 273 it is the tens.
3-digit minus a multiple of 100Only the hundreds digit changes: 547 − 200 = 347, because 5 hundreds take away 2 hundreds is 3 hundreds. Common Core 2.NBT.7 puts it as subtracting hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones. Twenty problems side by side, for the head and not for columns.
How this list was compiled: Sheet types, wording and worked examples are own work. Every worked example, every middle step and every wrong answer named in a description was computed on 2026-09-19, the examples twice (by subtracting and by adding the answer back). Standard numbers were read on 2026-09-19 in the full text of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (California Department of Education copy, https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/ccssmathstandardaug2013.pdf): 2.OA.1 (one- and two-step word problems within 100), 2.OA.2 (add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies), 2.NBT.5 (fluently add and subtract within 100), 2.NBT.7 (within 1000 with models or drawings), 2.NBT.8 (mentally subtract 10 or 100), 2.MD.5 (word problems about lengths within 100) and 2.MD.6 (sums and differences within 100 on a number line diagram); and in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Mathematics, 19 TAC chapter 111 subchapter A (https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/ch111a.pdf): 2.4(A) (basic facts within 20), 2.4(B) (subtract two-digit numbers using mental strategies and algorithms), 2.4(C) (word problems within 1,000), 2.7(B) (10 or 100 more or less than a number) and 2.7(C) (an unknown as any one of the terms). That borrowing and regrouping name one method was checked on 2026-09-19 against Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtraction . The sheets follow no single curriculum, and naming a standard does not mean a sheet is approved by anyone. Licence: own work