4th grade paired passages worksheets

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Fourth grade pairs grow to about 150 words each and the comparison questions sharpen: how the two texts differ in purpose, which detail both include, what one text explains that the other only mentions. This is the test-prep genre teachers ask for, built on the same reviewed passages as the rest of the site.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RL.4.9, RI.4.9.

Each click picks one of the 13 passage pairs written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read both passages. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. Some questions ask about one passage, and some ask about both.

Lost and Found in the Corn

Inside the Maze: The rule was simple. Cass and I would stay together. Then I stopped to tie my shoe, and when I looked up, the corn had swallowed her. I called her…

From the Tower: Rudy is slower than me, so I kept walking ahead, just to the next turn. And then he was not behind me. I went back a few steps and could…

  1. In Passage A, why does Rudy decide to sit down? his mom says a lost person should stay still · his shoe has come untied again · he is too tired to walk through the corn · he wants to read the map

    Answer: his mom says a lost person should stay still

  2. In Passage B, how does Cass find Rudy? she climbs the tower and spots him from above · she follows his footprints back through the dead ends · she asks a farmer at the gate to help look for him · she hears him crying

Each print picks one of the 13 passage pairs written for this grade, and its questions come with it. A second print can land on a pair you've used, so check the titles before you hand it out.

What's on a 4th grade sheet

4th grade sheets draw from 13 passage pairs. A pair runs 284 to 298 words in all. 3rd and 4th grade print from the same 13 passage pairs. What changes is the standard (RL.4.9, RI.4.9 here) and the teaching notes below.

Some of the titles: The Smallest Visitor, Hoops on Wheels, A Dog With a Job, Telling Time Before Clocks, When Thunder Roars, Should Room 12 Get a Guinea Pig?.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Have your child mark each question A, B, or Both before answering any of them. Sorting first cuts the classic error, answering a Passage B question from Passage A. For a Both question, insist on a finger on the detail in each text.

Watch for: Answering from memory of the first passage after reading the second is the classic slip. For a 'both' question, go back and put a finger on the detail in each text before choosing. Two passages on one topic are not the same passage twice. They can disagree, cover different years, or use different kinds of evidence, and the questions are built on exactly those differences.

Common questions about 4th grade paired passages

Why do teachers ask for paired passages?
Because state reading tests use them, and because comparing two texts is a real skill that a single passage cannot teach. Each print picks a pair at random from the grade's set, so a second sheet is usually a different pair.
What kinds of questions are on the sheet?
Detail questions about each passage, then comparison questions: which detail both include, how the purposes differ, what one text adds that the other does not. The question always names the passage or says both.

Related worksheets

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Want a different pair? Print again. Each print picks one of the 13.

Aligned to Common Core RL.4.9, RI.4.9. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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