Grade 5 Probability Worksheets — Free Printable PDF
Grade 5 is where chance stops being a word and becomes a number. A bag of four red counters and six blue ones gives a two-in-ten chance of red, which is written 2/5 — and the same bag gives a probability of 0 for a colour that is not in it, and 1 for the certainty that whatever comes out is one of the two colours present.
These sheets cover that step and one more: working out how many counters have to change colour before two outcomes become equally likely. Pick a sub-skill, set the number of questions, and print the answer key alongside if you want it.
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Probability · Grade 5
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Grade 5 · 3 pages · A4More Grade 5 probability skills
Each one generates a different kind of question, with its own three levels and answer key.
What each level generates
Grade 5 chance as a fraction — the exact skill behind each difficulty setting, straight from the generator.
- Level 1Two colours in a bag
- Level 2Three colours in a bag
- Level 3Including 0 and 1
Grade levels follow the progression common to most English-language curricula — not one specific national curriculum. Every level shows exactly what it generates, so you can check the fit with your own program. See the full scope & sequence →
Why the total is never printed
Every question on Chance as a Fraction gives the parts and not the whole. A bag holds six green counters and three pink ones; the child adds them to nine and then writes 6/9 as 2/3.
That is deliberate, and not only for the extra step. Printing the total would turn the question into "write 6/9 in its simplest form", which is a fractions exercise this site already teaches at Grades 4, 5 and 6. Withholding it keeps this a probability question: you have to decide what the whole is before there is a fraction to simplify at all.
Where Grade 5 probability sits in the curriculum
As at Grade 4, US Common Core has no probability standard at fifth grade, and England's national curriculum has none before Key Stage 3. Ontario's Grade 5 expectation is a direct match for the first sub-skill here — use fractions to express the probability of events happening — and the Australian Curriculum's Year 5 strand asks pupils to list the outcomes of chance experiments and separate equally likely outcomes from unequally likely ones, which is what the second sub-skill drills.
If you are working to Common Core, the honest description of this page is preparation: the fraction work is squarely Grade 5, and the chance context is a two-year head start on 7.SP.
Frequently asked questions
▸How should probabilities be written on these sheets?
As a fraction in its simplest form. Where an outcome cannot happen the answer is 0, and where it must happen the answer is 1, rather than 0/8 or 8/8. The instruction line on each sheet says so.
▸Why does the question not tell you how many counters there are altogether?
Because finding the whole is part of the question. The parts are given and the child adds them to get the total, then writes the part over that total. If the total were printed, the question would just be simplifying a fraction.
▸Is probability a Grade 5 topic?
In the Australian and Ontario curricula, yes — Ontario names fractions for probability at Grade 5 specifically. US Common Core has no probability standard at this grade and introduces the topic at Grade 7, so under Common Core this is early work rather than required work.
▸What does the second sub-skill ask?
How many counters or spinner sections have to change colour before two outcomes are equally likely. It is not simply the difference between the two amounts: changing one counter from blue to red moves both totals at once, so the answer is half the gap.
▸Can I control how many questions are on the page?
Yes. Use the question-count stepper before printing, and press Shuffle for a fresh set at the same level.