Addition word problems – sums up to 18

Learn with an example

👁️ A biscuit jar is sitting on a high shelf. Steve stands on a pile of 5 sofa pillows and 2 bed pillows to reach it. How many pillows does Steve use to reach the biscuit jar?

​ ______pillows

  • Add the number of sofa pillows and the number of bed pillows.
  • Add:
5 + 2
  • You can count up to add. Start from 5 and count up 2:
  • 5, 6, 7
5 + 2
7
  • The sum is 7. Steve uses 7 pillows.

👁️Ted helped his father bake biscuits. They baked 9 sugar biscuits and 8 chocolate chip biscuits. How many biscuits did they bake in all?

​ _______biscuits

  • Add the numbers of biscuits.
  • Add:
9 + 8
  • You can count up to add. Start from 9 and count up 8:
  • 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
9 + 8
17
  • The sum is 17. The baked 17 biscuits in all.

👁️ Jim goes on holiday to the Maldives. He sends 5 postcards to friends and 3 postcards to family members. How many postcards does he send in all?

​
______postcards

  • Add the numbers of postcards.
  • Add:
5 + 3
  • You can count up to add. Start from 5 and count up 3:
  • 5, 6, 7, 8
5 + 3
8
  • The sum is 8. In all, Jim sends 8 postcards.

Let’s practice!