Free Printable Multiplication Worksheets

About the Multiplication Worksheets

The sheets follow the order multiplication is usually taught. How Multiplication Works shows one fact, 3 × 4, as equal groups, an array, repeated addition and jumps on a number line, so students see that all four mean the same thing. The arrays sheet then has them write the fact for a picture.

The strategies sheet is for the stage between understanding and memorizing. It shows how to get a fact you do not know from one you do: double for the 2s, double twice for the 4s, take half of ten times for the 5s, take one group away from ten times for the 9s, and split a hard fact such as 7 × 6 into 5 × 6 and 2 × 6.

That last strategy, breaking a fact apart, gets two sheets of its own because it is the distributive property, which students use again in multi-digit multiplication and the area model. Break Apart Arrays shows the split on dots: an array of 7 rows of 6 cut into 5 rows and 2 rows, two facts that add to 42. Students finish six split arrays, then draw the line themselves on two more. Break Apart Facts writes the same idea as an equation, 8 × 7 = (5 × 7) + (3 × 7), with missing numbers and four facts to split any way they like.

The three fact sets group the times tables by difficulty. Set A is the 2s, 5s and 10s. Set B is the 3s, 4s and 6s. Set C is the 7s, 8s and 9s. The sets are fixed, so a student can repeat the same sheet and see the time or score improve. The mixed 60-fact sheet covers the 2s through the 12s and can be used as a timed test.

The 2-digit sheets open with a worked example that breaks one number into tens and ones, and the answer keys show both partial products for every problem so mistakes are easy to find. 3-Digit by 1-Digit and 4-Digit by 1-Digit Multiplication carry the same idea up to the thousands: 564 × 7 is 7 × 4, 7 × 60 and 7 × 500 added together, and the keys list each part.

In 4th grade multiplication is also a way to compare. Multiplication as Comparison reads "24 is 3 times as many as 8" as 24 = 3 × 8, and draws it as a bar model: one bar of 8 beside three bars of 8. Times as Many Word Problems asks for the larger amount, the smaller amount or how many times as many, and ends with pairs of stories that differ by one phrase, "3 more than" and "3 times as many", because mixing the two is the mistake students make most.

2-digit by 2-digit multiplication gets a short lesson of its own. The How It Works sheet splits 36 × 24 into 36 × 20 and 36 × 4 in a box, then shows the written method on the same problem in four pictures: the ones line, the zero, the tens line and the total. Each picture adds only the next thing to write. Guided practice follows on a grid, with less help in each section, and then practice without the grid.

For a reference to keep on the desk, print a multiplication chart. For more stories, see multiplication word problems. To practice the facts with a partner, try the multiplication games.

The mystery picture is fact practice with a reason to finish: each square has a fact, the answer says which crayon to use, and a picture shows up as the squares fill in. There are more multiplication pictures, and holiday ones, on the mystery pictures page.