About Our Place Value Worksheets
Place value is the foundation of our number system — understanding that the digit 4 means “4 ones” in 14 but “4 hundreds” in 3,472 is the conceptual leap that makes multi-digit arithmetic make sense. Our printable place value worksheets cover three levels: hundreds (3-digit numbers, grades 1–2), thousands (4-digit numbers, grade 3), and ten thousands (5-digit numbers, grade 4).
Each worksheet asks two types of questions: “What digit is in the hundreds place of 3,472?” (answer: 4) and “What is the value of the hundreds digit in 3,472?” (answer: 400). Mixing these two question types on the same worksheet ensures students understand both the position and the actual value. Each download generates a fresh set of randomly selected numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are place values in order?
Starting from the right: ones (1), tens (10), hundreds (100), thousands (1,000), ten thousands (10,000), hundred thousands (100,000), millions (1,000,000). Each position is ten times the value of the position to its right. So the digit 4 in the hundreds place has a value of 400, while the digit 4 in the thousands place has a value of 4,000.
What is the difference between a digit’s place and its value?
The place is the position name (ones, tens, hundreds, etc.). The value is the amount that digit actually represents. In the number 3,472: the digit 4 is in the hundreds place (that is its place), and its value is 400 (4 × 100). Students often confuse place and value, so it helps to practice both types of questions explicitly.
What is expanded form?
Expanded form breaks a number into the sum of the values of each digit. For example, 3,472 in expanded form is 3,000 + 400 + 70 + 2. Expanded form makes place value explicit and helps students understand why addition and subtraction algorithms work the way they do.