About this worksheet

Column subtraction with regrouping (borrowing) is the skill that trips up more Year 4 students than almost any other number topic — especially when it means borrowing across one or more zeros. This worksheet gives focused, structured practice using 3- and 4-digit numbers, where every question needs at least one regrouping step, including some of the trickiest cases: subtracting across a string of zeros, like 700 − 283 or 10,000 − 4,628.

The worksheet follows our usual four-part structure. The Fluency section (16 questions) is pure column-subtraction practice, moving from 3-digit numbers up to 4-digit numbers and building in difficulty, with several “borrow across zero” cases placed deliberately throughout. The Core section applies subtraction to real contexts: fun run entrants, shop stock levels, charity fundraising targets, and a stadium capacity problem that requires regrouping across the zeros. The Reasoning section asks students to explain the method itself — why regrouping is sometimes needed, how to use estimation to catch an error, and what actually happens when we borrow across a zero. The Challenge section goes further, asking students to construct numbers that require regrouping in every column, work backwards from a known difference to find a missing number, and check a real-world claim using subtraction.

Every question — and every step of every worked solution — has been checked by hand, including the trickier borrow-across-zero cases, so teachers and parents can rely on the answer key without needing to re-verify the mathematics themselves. A full, fully worked marking key is included as a separate download, with mark allocations shown for every question.

This worksheet aligns with the WA Year 4 curriculum descriptor WA4MNAAS1 and is free to download and use in the classroom or at home.

Common errors we see in tutoring

• Subtracting the smaller digit from the larger one instead of regrouping
• Not regrouping all the way through a run of zeros
• Forgetting that regrouping reduces the next column's digit by one