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Three Words for Hard Times is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on inflation, deflation and unemployment, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Eco.11.3-5. It prints 3 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 10 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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One paper per pupil

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

Three Words for Hard Times

D2.Eco.11.3-5

NameDate

Sort each one into the right word.

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.11.3-5 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Words for Hard Times

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Hands paid off for refusing the new rate — Unemployment 2. Shippers cut freight rates year on year — Deflation 3. The same wage buys less bread — Inflation
  2. 2.1. Cotton costs more this year than last — Inflation 2. Men waiting at the mill gate for work — Unemployment 3. The same coin buys more coal than before — Deflation
  3. 3.1. An upland labourer with no farm to work on — Unemployment 2. Cloth sells for less than it did — Deflation 3. Rents rise across the mill district — Inflation

More practice for D2.Eco.11.3-5

Explain what inflation, deflation and unemployment mean.

Teaching this next? Three Words for Hard Times 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.11.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.