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Year 4 subtraction worksheets

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Year 4 · Subtraction

Column subtraction to 4 digits

1)7094 − 2733 =
2)5782 − 2489 =
3)7847 − 1790 =
4)5918 − 3539 =
5)7150 − 3310 =
6)8169 − 3744 =
7)3123 − 2786 =
8)7649 − 6675 =
9)5352 − 3642 =
10)7220 − 7029 =
11)6477 − 6005 =
12)6087 − 4652 =
13)1575 − 1574 =
14)8888 − 3886 =
15)6714 − 4819 =
16)6445 − 1415 =
17)8227 − 3068 =
18)9613 − 1945 =
19)3882 − 1983 =
20)7463 − 2772 =
ticked. · free UK primary worksheetsSheet #00017

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Year 4 · Subtraction · Column subtraction to 4 digits

1)7094 − 2733 = 4361
2)5782 − 2489 = 3293
3)7847 − 1790 = 6057
4)5918 − 3539 = 2379
5)7150 − 3310 = 3840
6)8169 − 3744 = 4425
7)3123 − 2786 = 337
8)7649 − 6675 = 974
9)5352 − 3642 = 1710
10)7220 − 7029 = 191
11)6477 − 6005 = 472
12)6087 − 4652 = 1435
13)1575 − 1574 = 1
14)8888 − 3886 = 5002
15)6714 − 4819 = 1895
16)6445 − 1415 = 5030
17)8227 − 3068 = 5159
18)9613 − 1945 = 7668
19)3882 − 1983 = 1899
20)7463 − 2772 = 4691
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What Year 4 subtraction covers

Year 4 widens column subtraction to four-digit numbers — 7094 − 2733, 5918 − 3539 — which means a thousands column and, on most questions, exchanging more than once. The larger number always comes first, so no answer is negative, and answers are often narrower than the question: 5469 − 5329 leaves 140. Year 4 also expects the check to come from the child, by estimating first and adding the answer back on afterwards. Every sheet is A4, print-ready, and comes with an answer key.

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Questions parents ask

What subtraction does Year 4 cover?

Column subtraction of numbers with up to four digits, paired in the curriculum with the addition it undoes. The written method is the one from Year 3 with a thousands column added, so most of Year 4 is about making it reliable rather than learning it. Children are also expected to estimate first and check by adding the answer back on — 7094 − 2733 is right if 4361 + 2733 returns 7094.

Why do some answers come out much shorter than the question?

Because subtraction does not preserve size the way addition does. Two four-digit numbers can differ by very little — 5918 − 3539 leaves 2379, but a pair like 5469 − 5329 leaves 140, a three-digit answer under a four-digit question. Children who have learned to expect an answer the same width as the numbers sometimes assume they have made a mistake, or pad the answer with a leading zero. Neither is wrong, exactly, but the second hides whether they understand the size of what they have found.

My child gets stuck exchanging across a zero. What helps?

This is the hardest single thing in four-digit subtraction and it is worth isolating. In 7150 − 3310 the tens column is fine, but a question like 7004 − 2733 asks a child to take from a column that has nothing to give, then from the one beyond it — two exchanges chained together. The fix that usually works is not more sheets but saying the number out loud in a different way: 7004 is 700 tens and 4 ones, so the 700 tens can lend one. Practise those separately, then come back to a mixed sheet.

Are the answers included?

Yes. Keep 'Answers' ticked and a separate answer-key page is made with every sheet, so marking takes seconds. Every difference is computed exactly and checked.

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