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Adding Up What Cannot Be Swapped is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on the role of money in exchange, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Eco.5.3-5. 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 25 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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

Adding Up What Cannot Be Swapped

D2.Eco.5.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Why can profits of 12,000 pounds be compared with a wage bill?
  • A.Both are in the same units, so the comparison means something
  • B.Both are large
  • C.Both are published
2.What must be true for the agent's four pounds to work as payment?
  • A.Enough people must accept those coins in exchange for goods
  • B.The agent must be honest
  • C.The coins must be gold
3.The agent will take four pounds and nothing else. What does money do here?
  • A.It makes the ship faster
  • B.It lets a weaver sell his labour to anyone and pay the agent in coin
  • C.It shortens the voyage
4.The relief fund holds 340 pounds. Why must it be money?
  • A.It is easy to hide
  • B.It looks impressive
  • C.It can be divided among members and stored until needed
5.What could a swap economy not do that the harbour return does?
  • A.Carry cargo
  • B.Add up 73,500 tons of different goods into one figure
  • C.Employ dockers
6.Dues are 4,180 pounds and cargo is 73,500 tons. Why does money help?
  • A.Money is lighter
  • B.It puts different cargoes into one measure that can be totalled
  • C.Tons are hard to spell
7.A wage cut is 'one shilling in the pound'. What does money let you do?
  • A.Pay in cloth
  • B.Avoid the cut
  • C.Compare the cut across every hand, whatever they earn
8.Why is a wage in coin better for a hand than payment in cloth?
  • A.Coin buys whatever the family needs, not only cloth
  • B.Cloth is heavy
  • C.Coin is prettier

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.5.3-5 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Adding Up What Cannot Be Swapped

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Both are in the same units, so the comparison means something
  2. 2.Enough people must accept those coins in exchange for goods
  3. 3.It lets a weaver sell his labour to anyone and pay the agent in coin
  4. 4.It can be divided among members and stored until needed
  5. 5.Add up 73,500 tons of different goods into one figure
  6. 6.It puts different cargoes into one measure that can be totalled
  7. 7.Compare the cut across every hand, whatever they earn
  8. 8.Coin buys whatever the family needs, not only cloth

More practice for D2.Eco.5.3-5

Explain what money does that swapping goods cannot.

Teaching this next? Adding Up What Cannot Be Swapped is the 50-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.5.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.