2-Digit Subtraction with Borrowing

This worksheet drills two-digit column subtraction with borrowing. Each problem is written vertically, and each one has been built so the ones column comes up short — a 3 on top facing a 7 below. The child cannot take 7 from 3, so a ten must be borrowed: cross out the tens digit, make it one smaller, give the ones a fresh ten, and subtract. Every problem on the page rehearses that exact exchange until it feels routine.

Borrowing is carrying run backwards, and most children find it the harder direction. Carrying bundles ten ones into a ten; borrowing has to unbundle a ten back into ones, and it forces a judgment call first: can I subtract this column as it stands, or not? That look-before-you-leap moment is the real skill this page trains. The classic error — flipping the digits and taking 3 from 7 because it is easier — comes from skipping the judgment, and a page of all-borrowing problems confronts it head on: here, the smaller-from-larger shortcut always gives the wrong answer, so honest borrowing is the only road through.

Print the PDF free and have the child mark each crossed-out ten clearly — visible bookkeeping prevents silent errors. The companion page, 2-digit addition with carrying, keeps the opposite trade fresh, and subtracting across zeros waits down the road as borrowing's boss level.