Adding and Subtracting Fraction Word Problems

Daniel watched a beetle and a spider on the sidewalk. The beetle crawled 1/2 of a yard and the spider crawled 1/8 of a yard. How much farther did the beetle crawl than the spider?

• 1/4

• 3/8

• 1/2

• 5/8

Carefully following a recipe to make brownies, Ben used exactly 5/8 of a cup of oil and 3/4 of a cup of water. How many cups of liquid did Ben use in all?

• 1/8

• 2/3

• 1 1/2

• 1 3/8

Robert made a fruit salad with 11/12 of a pound of melon and 1/6 of a pound of berries. How many pounds of fruit did Robert use in all?

• 1 1/12

• 3/4

• 2/3

• 1 1/2

Pam walks 3/4 of a mile to school. Paul walks 1/8 of a mile to school. How much farther does Pam walk than Paul?

• 5/8

• 4/8

• 1 3/8

• 3/4

The fifth grade math teachers ordered pizza for lunch. Mrs. Dombkowski ate 1/3 of the pizza. Ms. Chaney ate 5/12 of the pizza. How much more pizza did Ms. Chaney eat than Mrs. Dombkowski?

• 1/4

• 2/3

• 4/6

• 1/12

1/10 of the M&M's in a bag are red and 1/5 are blue.  What fraction of the M&M's are red or blue?

• 3/10
• 1/10
• 1/5
• 2/5

Jaden swims a race in 29 3/10 seconds.  Ms. Montelin swims the race in 33 9/10 seconds.  How much faster was Jaden than Ms. Montelin?  

• 3/5
• 5 1/5
• 4 3/5
• 1 1/5

A pitcher contains 2 3/4 pints of orange juice.  After your pour 5/8 of a pint into a glass, how much orange juice is left in the pitcher?

• 1/8
• 3 3/8
• 1 3/8
• 2 1/8

During lunch, Julio drinks 2  3/4 cups of milk.  Alan drinks 3/8 cups of milk.  Fernando drinks 1  1/6 cups of milk.  How much milk do the 3 gentleman drink? 

• 4  7/24 cups
• 3  7/32 cups
• 4  7/32 cups 
• 3  7/24 cups

What do you need to have when adding unlike fractions?

• common denominator
• common numerator
• common numerator and denominator