Printable graph paper
Graph paper is paper ruled in equal squares. This sheet fills a page with them in 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 1 cm or 5 mm squares. Print it at 100% and each square measures its true size, ready for math work and graphs.
Free printable PDF, 3rd grade to 8th grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The sheet prints with these options: 1/4 inch, None.
28 squares across and 36 down, each 1/4 inch on a side. The sheet is the grid; nothing else prints.
Which square size to print
1/2 inch squares are the big ones, for 3rd graders. They are big enough to write a digit in, so a child can keep the ones, tens and hundreds of a sum in their own columns, colour in a bar graph a square at a time, or find the area of a rectangle by counting squares.
1/4 inch is standard math graph paper in US schools, four squares to the inch, sometimes sold as quad ruled paper. It is the size for lining up long multiplication and long division in 4th and 5th grade, and for the graphs and coordinate work after that.
1 cm squares are the metric choice. Each square is one square centimetre, so area and perimeter work in square centimetres comes out right, and a centimetre cube fits on one square. 5 mm squares suit older students, from 6th grade up: graphs of equations, geometry drawings and science lab graphs.
Getting the squares to measure true
In the print dialog, choose Actual size or 100%, not Fit to page. Fit to page shrinks the sheet by a few percent, and the squares shrink with it. To check, measure four 1/4 inch squares with a ruler: they should come to exactly one inch.
The darker line every 5 squares saves counting from the edge each time. On 1 cm paper it falls every 5 cm, so a line 12 cm long ends two darker lines and 2 squares from where it started.
Common questions
- Why do my squares come out a little small?
- The printer scaled the page. Print again at 100% or Actual size, with Fit to page turned off, and the squares will measure true.
- Is there isometric or dot paper here?
- No. This page prints square grid paper only. For axes and numbers already drawn, the coordinate plane page prints those.
- Will it print on A4 paper?
- Yes. The grid sits inside margins that fit both letter and A4, so at 100% the squares keep their size on either.
- What is quad ruled paper?
- Graph paper with four squares to the inch, the same as the 1/4 inch size here.