Skip to content
LessonPrint

The Price of Borrowing is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on what an interest rate is, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Eco.10.3-5. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 21 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

The Price of Borrowing

D2.Eco.10.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.A boatman borrows to buy a barge in 1845. Why was that a risk?
  • A.If his trade fell he would still owe the money and its interest
  • B.Interest cannot be charged
  • C.Barges float
2.A rate rises from 3 to 8 in a hundred. What happens to borrowing?
  • A.Borrowing gets cheaper
  • B.Nothing changes
  • C.Borrowing costs more, so fewer people borrow
3.Why does a lender charge interest at all?
  • A.Because the money could have been used elsewhere while it was lent
  • B.To be unkind
  • C.Because coins wear out
4.You save 100 pounds and are paid 3 pounds a year. What is that?
  • A.A wage
  • B.Interest paid to you for lending your money to the bank
  • C.A gift
5.What does an interest rate measure?
  • A.How much it costs to borrow, as a share of what you borrowed
  • B.How long you take to repay
  • C.How much you earn
6.You borrow 100 pounds and repay 105. What is the 5 pounds?
  • A.A tax
  • B.Interest: the price of borrowing the money
  • C.A fine
7.Why might a lender charge one borrower more than another?
  • A.Because one is taller
  • B.Because one is less likely to repay
  • C.Because one lives nearer
8.The railway company borrows to lay track. What must it plan for?
  • A.Charging no fares
  • B.Earning enough from fares to repay the loan and its interest
  • C.Never repaying

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.10.3-5 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Price of Borrowing

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.If his trade fell he would still owe the money and its interest
  2. 2.Borrowing costs more, so fewer people borrow
  3. 3.Because the money could have been used elsewhere while it was lent
  4. 4.Interest paid to you for lending your money to the bank
  5. 5.How much it costs to borrow, as a share of what you borrowed
  6. 6.Interest: the price of borrowing the money
  7. 7.Because one is less likely to repay
  8. 8.Earning enough from fares to repay the loan and its interest

More practice for D2.Eco.10.3-5

Explain what an interest rate is.

Teaching this next? What Borrowing Costs is the 45-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Eco.10.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.