Making change worksheets

Making change is a practical subtraction skill that also strengthens decimal place value. Each question gives a purchase cost below a selected payment amount and asks for the difference. Choose payment from $5, $10 or $20; the generator stores every value in cents and guarantees positive change.

Students may subtract the cost from the amount paid or count upward from the cost to the payment. Both methods should reach the same answer, making the worksheet useful for discussing mental strategies as well as the written subtraction algorithm. A separate answer-key page keeps independent practice easy to check.

Two useful solution methods

• For subtraction, line up the decimal points and regroup across dollars when needed.
• For counting up, move from the cost to the next whole dollar, then continue to the amount paid.
• Record each jump and add the jumps to find the total change.
• Estimate first: a cost close to the payment should produce a small amount of change.
• Check by adding the change to the cost and confirming that it equals the payment.

Choosing the payment range

Begin with $5 when students are learning to regroup dollars and cents. Move to $10 for everyday purchase examples and $20 when they can manage a wider range of values. Because every generated cost is less than the selected payment, no question has zero or negative change. Generate another sheet number to repeat the same skill with fresh prices.

How to print this worksheet

1. Check the settings above. They are already set for making change.
2. Pick 10, 15, 20 or 30 problems, a title, and the name or date lines you want.
3. Choose US Letter or A4 to match the paper in your printer.
4. Press Download PDF for a file you can save and reuse, or Print to send it straight to your printer.
5. Keep the answer key page for yourself. The sheet number in the footer lets you make the exact same sheet again later.