Maths
Second Grade Subtraction Worksheets
Two-digit subtraction, stacked in columns, where borrowing starts.
Four steps
How to print second grade subtraction worksheets
- 1
Check the range
Opens at 10 to 99, which suits this stage. Move it if one child needs something different.
- 2
Set how many
20 questions a page by default. Fewer for a younger child.
- 3
Keep or drop the key
The answer key prints as its own page.
- 4
Shuffle if you want another
A new sheet at the same settings, so no two children get the same one.
- 5
Print or save as PDF
Plain paper is fine.
Why this range, and why this layout
Stacked, for the same reason as column addition: the method depends on the units sitting under the units. Borrowing is the harder of the two written methods and is worth its own sheets rather than being mixed in.
Before you print this one
Column addition with carrying, and subtraction within 20. If carrying is still shaky, borrowing will not stick.
On the column layout
The commonest error is subtracting the smaller digit from the larger regardless of which is on top, so 32 - 17 comes out as 25. It looks like carelessness and is actually a rule the child has invented; say out loud that the top number is the one being broken up.
When to move on
Once borrowing is secure, division facts are the natural next thing: they need the same willingness to break a number apart, and they unlock everything in third and fourth grade.
Related printables
second grade addition worksheets, first grade subtraction worksheets, third grade division worksheets and place value worksheets. The full maths generator covers every operation and range in one place.
Answers