Shortcuts::Key Words

I wanted to share this list with those of you who are homeschooling (or have ones in school) that are doing word problems in math. This has helped my 2nd grader tremendously!

 Key words to look for will help to determine what type of math you will be doing to solve the problem.

Key words/phrases:

Addition:

1. Add

2. Altogether

3. Both

4. In All

5. Sum

6. Total

Subtraction:

1. Difference

2. Fewer

3. less

4. Minus

5. How Many More

6. How Much More

7. Left

8. Need to

9. Remains

10. Subtract

11. Words ending with 'er' {faster, heavier, shorter, longer, slower, fewer, farther, etc.}

EX. John's backpack weighs 5 pounds and Sarah's backpack weighs 3 pounds. How much heavier is John's backpack?

Multiplication Words:

1. Times:  

EX. Maria ran around the track 5 times. It took her 5 minutes to run around the track. How many     minutes did she run?

2. Every: 

EX. Kim buys 2 apples everyday. How many apples does she buy in a week?

3. At this rate: 

EX. Ed reads 25 words per minute. At this rate, how many words does he read in one hour?

Division Words:

1. Each: Ken has 75 pencils and 15 boxes. How many pencils should he pack in each box so each customer gets the same number of pencils?

Hope this helps you. It sure did for us!

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