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

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.5.3-5 · Set 4 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Adding Up What Cannot Be Swapped

Set 4. 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.Coin buys whatever the family needs, not only cloth
  4. 4.It puts different cargoes into one measure that can be totalled
  5. 5.It can be divided among members and stored until needed
  6. 6.Compare the cut across every hand, whatever they earn
  7. 7.It lets a weaver sell his labour to anyone and pay the agent in coin
  8. 8.Add up 73,500 tons of different goods into one figure

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.