3.MD.7 — Area of Rectangles & Distributive Property
Practice finding the area of rectangles using multiplication and the distributive property to solve real-world problems involving square units and tiled surfaces.
Read each problem carefully, then find the area by multiplying length times width or using the distributive property.
- 1.Mia is tiling her bathroom floor. The floor is 4 feet long and 3 feet wide. What is the area of the bathroom floor?
- 2.A school garden is shaped like a rectangle. It is 7 meters long and 5 meters wide. What is the area of the garden?
- 3.Jake is painting a rectangular wall that is 9 feet long and 6 feet wide. What is the total area he needs to paint?
- 4.A rectangular rug in the classroom is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. What is the area of the rug?
- 5.A rectangular piece of construction paper is 11 inches long and 8 inches wide. What is the area of the paper?
- 6.The school cafeteria has a rectangular floor that is 12 meters long and 9 meters wide. What is the area of the cafeteria floor?
- 7.A vegetable garden is divided into two sections. One section is 3 feet wide and 5 feet long, and the other section is 3 feet wide and 4 feet long. Using the distributive property, what is the total area of the garden? (Hint: 3 × (5 + 4))
- 8.Lucas wants to find the area of a rectangle that is 6 inches long and 7 inches wide. What is the area?
- 9.A swimming pool at the park is 10 meters long and 6 meters wide. What is the area of the pool?
- 10.A rectangular poster on the wall is 5 feet long and 2 feet wide. What is the area of the poster?
- 11.A playground is shaped like a rectangle. It is 11 yards long and 7 yards wide. What is the area of the playground?
- 12.Sofia is decorating a rectangular card. The card is 9 inches long and 4 inches wide. What is the area of the card?
- 13.A rectangular tabletop is 8 feet long. You can split the width into two parts: 3 feet and 2 feet. Using the distributive property, what is the total area of the tabletop? (Hint: 8 × (3 + 2))
- 14.A rectangular field is 12 yards long and 5 yards wide. What is the area of the field?
- 15.The art room has a rectangular floor that is 10 feet long and 8 feet wide. What is the area of the art room floor?
- 16.A rectangular piece of fabric is 6 inches wide. It can be split into two lengths: 7 inches and 3 inches. Using the distributive property, find the total area of the fabric. (Hint: 6 × (7 + 3))
- 17.Noah is laying square tiles on a rectangular patio. The patio is 9 feet long and 3 feet wide. How many square feet of tile does he need?
- 18.A rectangular bulletin board is 11 inches long and 6 inches wide. What is the area of the bulletin board?
- 19.A rectangular sandbox is 4 meters wide. The length can be broken into two parts: 5 meters and 2 meters. Using the distributive property, find the total area of the sandbox. (Hint: 4 × (5 + 2))
- 20.Emma has a rectangular quilt that is 7 feet long and 9 feet wide. What is the area of the quilt?
- 21.A rectangular skating rink is 12 meters long and 8 meters wide. What is the area of the skating rink?
- 22.A rectangular window is 5 feet wide. Its height can be split into two parts: 4 feet and 2 feet. Using the distributive property, what is the total area of the window? (Hint: 5 × (4 + 2))
What this worksheet covers
Twenty-two multiplication problems fill the page, and the complete key sits behind them in the same PDF. What makes this set particular: the problems are written as situations, so a student has to translate before they can calculate; answers carry units, and a number without its unit is only half an answer. The whole sheet sits inside Common Core 3.MD.7, in the grade 3 Measurement & Data strand.
Skills practiced
Grade 3 sits in the stretch of the multiplication progression concerned with equal groups, arrays, and fact fluency within 100. Working the page asks a student to read a situation and choose an operation before computing. Consistency across the page matters more than any single answer on it.
How to use this worksheet
By grade 3 a student should be able to take all twenty-two problems in one sitting. Time it loosely — if the page takes more than about fifteen minutes, the underlying facts are probably not automatic yet, and that is worth fixing before more multiplication practice piles on top. Date the sheet before filing it. A page from six weeks ago is the cheapest evidence you have that something is sticking.
One mistake to watch for
The placeholder zero is dropped: 48 × 32 comes out as 336.
The second partial product is 48 × 30, not 48 × 3, but the algorithm has been learned as a digit procedure with no place value attached.
Return to the area model and label the rectangle as 30, not 3. Estimation catches this error instantly, so pair it with a required estimate.
Related worksheets
More grade 3 multiplication
More practice at the same level, for when one page has not made the skill automatic.
- Finding the Unknown in Multiplication & Division Equations — grade 3, 22 problems
- 3.OA.1 — Interpreting Products of Whole Numbers — grade 3, 20 problems
- Grade 3 Multiplication Practice — grade 3, 20 problems
A step either side
Where this skill comes from and where it goes next. Drop back a grade when the page stalls; move up when it does not.
- Grade 2 Arrays and Equal Addends — grade 2, 16 problems
- 4.NF.4 — Multiplying Fractions by Whole Numbers — grade 4, 21 problems
- Grade 4 Multiplication Practice — grade 4, 18 problems
Free to download, free to print, and free to photocopy for a whole class — this multiplication sheet and its key are one PDF, aimed at equal groups, arrays, and fact fluency within 100.