Skip to content
Paper Kit

Maths

Number Bonds Worksheets

Free printable number bond practice for any total up to 20, as diagrams to complete or as missing number equations, plus comparing numbers with greater than, less than and equals. Every sheet comes with an answer key.

Bonds to 20Missing numbersCompare < > =Answer key
Loading generator…

Four steps

How to make a number bonds worksheet

  1. 1

    Start with bonds to 10

    Practise until they are instant before moving on.

  2. 2

    Use the diagram first

    The bond shows structure; the equation asks for an answer.

  3. 3

    Then missing numbers

    The same bond written as an equation.

  4. 4

    Print the answer key

    It prints as a second sheet for quick marking.

Bonds replace counting backwards

Counting back is the method children invent for themselves, and it is the one that has to be replaced. It is slow, it goes wrong at the boundaries, and it does not scale: no one subtracts 47 from 92 by counting. Number bonds are the replacement, because they turn subtraction into recall rather than calculation.

The test is simple. Ask what ten minus six is. A child who pauses and moves their fingers is still counting. A child who answers immediately has the bond.

Why bonds to ten specifically

Almost every mental arithmetic strategy taught later runs through ten. Adding 8 + 5 by bridging (8 and 2 makes 10, then 3 more) requires knowing the bond to ten instantly. Subtracting through ten works the same way. Later, the identical pattern reappears with hundreds and thousands. A child fluent with bonds to ten is set up for all of it; a child who is not will meet the same obstacle repeatedly for years.

Comparing numbers honestly

The crocodile mouth is a good mnemonic, and it is not an explanation. Children who only have the mnemonic often cannot read the symbol in a context with no crocodile attached, which is every context after about age eight. Pair it with the reason: the sign opens wider towards the larger quantity.

These sheets include pairs that are equal, which most do not. Without them a child can score full marks by alternating between two symbols and never actually comparing anything.

Related printables

Ten frames make the quantity visible before the bond is abstracted, the math worksheet generator drills the arithmetic afterwards, and the multiplication chart is the next structure to learn the same way.

Answers

Frequently asked questions

A diagram showing that a number is made of two parts at the same time. Ten is seven and three; it is also six and four, and nine and one. The diagram makes that simultaneity visible in a way an equation does not, because 7 + 3 = 10 reads as an instruction to do something, whereas a bond just shows how the number is built.

Because they are what makes subtraction possible without counting backwards. A child who knows ten is seven and three already knows what ten minus three is, with nothing to work out. Counting back is slow, error-prone and gets worse as numbers grow, and bonds are the thing that replaces it.

Bonds to ten, until they are instant. They are the foundation of nearly every mental arithmetic strategy that follows: bridging through ten to add 8 + 5, subtracting through ten, and later the same patterns with hundreds. Bonds to five come first for younger children, and bonds to twenty follow once ten is secure.

Because a sheet where the answer is never "equals" quietly teaches children to guess between two symbols instead of comparing. Including equal pairs forces an actual comparison every time, and it also catches the child who has learned to pick the symbol that points at the smaller number without knowing why.

The crocodile mouth eating the bigger number is the usual mnemonic and it works, but it is worth pairing with the reason: the sign is wider at the end nearest the larger quantity. Children taught only the mnemonic often cannot read the sign in a context without a crocodile, such as a number line or a spreadsheet.

Keep going

All 73 tools →
Math Worksheet Generatornew+ − × ÷ drills with answer keysNumber Tracing Worksheetsnew0-20, ten frames & sequencesMultiplication ChartnewTimes tables & blank gridsKindergarten WorksheetsnewAges 5-6, phonics to money

More arithmetic practice

The math worksheet generator produces addition and subtraction drills once the bonds are secure.

All toolsHome