What is conflicting information?

Two texts that can't both be right about something. At eighth grade, students say exactly where the texts disagree and whether the disagreement is about what happened or about what it means, which is the RI.8.9 standard.

Do the sheets say which passage is right?

Only when the evidence settles it, and then the question asks why. Many real disputes are still open, so more often the question asks what each side relies on. The answer key explains every choice.

8th grade paired passages

8th grade paired passages worksheets

Eighth grade pairs disagree outright. Two accounts of one event or question conflict, and the questions ask where: on a matter of fact (what happened) or on interpretation (what it means). Students find the common ground first, then the exact point of conflict, and weigh the evidence behind each side.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RI.8.9.

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.

First in Flight?

The Bridgeport Story: On August 18, 1901, the Bridgeport Sunday Herald in Connecticut ran a remarkable story. Four days earlier, it said, a German immigrant named Gustave Whitehead had flown a machine of…

The Kitty Hawk Record: On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright lay on the lower wing of the Flyer and lifted off the sand near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The flight lasted twelve seconds and…

According to the newspaper story in Passage A, what did the Number 21 do during the flight? turned to miss a stand of trees and landed without damage · rose about fifty feet, then crashed into a clump of chestnut trees · flew across the sand at Kitty Hawk and landed near the lifesaving station · stayed up half an hour
Answer: turned to miss a stand of trees and landed without damage
According to Passage B, why do critics doubt the sworn statements about Whitehead? they were gathered over thirty years after the flight · they were signed by the Wright brothers themselves, who were his rivals · every witness who signed one worked for the Smithsonian museum · they were first printed in Jane's All the World's Aircraft in 2013

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 an 8th grade sheet

8th grade sheets draw from 13 passage pairs. A pair runs 425 to 482 words in all. 7th and 8th grade print from the same 13 passage pairs. What changes is the standard (RI.8.9 here) and the teaching notes below.

Some of the titles: The First Shot at Lexington, Why the Hindenburg Burned, Great Zimbabwe: A Claim and the Evidence, Where Was Vinland?, Did Galileo Drop the Balls?, Who Invented the Telephone?.

Paired passages. 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. One pair of passages per sheet, with its own question set.

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

How to teach this

Ask the fact-or-interpretation question about every disagreement. Could new evidence settle it, like a document or a measurement? Then it is a matter of fact. If both sides would still argue with all the evidence in hand, it is interpretation. Eighth graders who sort conflicts this way read news and history better too.

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 8th grade paired passages

What is conflicting information?: Two texts that can't both be right about something. At eighth grade, students say exactly where the texts disagree and whether the disagreement is about what happened or about what it means, which is the RI.8.9 standard.
Do the sheets say which passage is right?: Only when the evidence settles it, and then the question asks why. Many real disputes are still open, so more often the question asks what each side relies on. The answer key explains every choice.

Related worksheets

Ready to print one?

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

Aligned to Common Core RI.8.9. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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