1st grade adding three numbers word problems worksheets

Adding three numbers word problems worksheets for 1st grade tell four short stories per page, each with three amounts: storybooks, science books, and art books on one library cart. Your child reads the story, shows how the parts go together, and writes the total. Some stories give the total and two parts instead and ask for the third. Easier and more difficult versions are offered.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core 1.OA.A.2.

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The kind of problems you'll get

Read each story. Show how you find the missing quantity.

  1. A library cart carried 1 storybooks, 2 science books, and 1 art books. How many books were on the cart?

    Answer: 4

  2. An art class used 8 tiles. 4 were red and 2 were green. The rest were blue. How many blue tiles were used?

    Answer: 2

  3. An art class used 6 tiles. 4 were blue and 1 were green. The rest were red. How many red tiles were used?

    Answer: 1

Every print pulls a fresh set of problems at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.

What's on each sheet

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key after the problems.

This sheet is one of the versions on the 1st grade addition & subtraction word problems page, with its own difficulty choices and its own answer key.

How to teach this

Read the story aloud together and have your child name the three parts before adding anything. Then ask which two are easiest to join first. The rule box says you may join two parts first, and picking a friendly pair, like two that make 10, is the whole strategy 1.OA.A.2 is after. Watch the stories that flip: the class used 8 tiles, 4 red and 2 green, the rest blue. Kids who have been adding all page will add 8, 4 and 2. Ask, is 8 a part or the whole? Sketching three boxes with the whole written above them makes the missing piece obvious. For a check, have them read their answer back into the story. Four red, 2 green and 2 blue, does that make 8 tiles? Four problems is enough for one sitting. Leave the work showing, since that is part of the task.

Watch for: Kids add whatever numbers appear, so a story that gives the whole and two parts gets all three added together. Ask which number is the whole before any adding starts, and sketch it as a bar over the parts. Kids add three numbers left to right even when a different pair is friendlier. Point out two parts that make 10, or a double, and let them join those first. The rule box gives permission to reorder.

Common questions about adding three numbers word problems

How many problems are on the sheet?
Four stories per page, each with room to show the work and write the answer. The sheet asks your child to show how they found the missing quantity, so the space matters. An answer key comes with it.
Are all the problems straight addition?
Most give three parts and ask for the total. Some give the total and two of the parts and ask for the one left over, like 8 tiles where 4 are red and 2 are green. Those need the same picture of parts and a whole, worked the other way around.
How does this differ from the regular addition and subtraction word problems?
The parent page mixes one-step stories with two amounts. Here every story carries three amounts, and the strategy of joining two of them first is the thing being practiced. It is a good sheet to reach for once two-number stories feel easy.

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Aligned to Common Core 1.OA.A.2. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 240, updated September 2026.

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