Distance, rate and time word problems worksheet for Algebra 1
In Algebra 1 these start with d = rt on its own: one traveler, with the speed or the time to find from the other two quantities. Write d = rt with the known numbers in place, then divide to get the missing one, and keep the units that match the question.
Also taught in Algebra 2, at its own level and with its own examples.
Select your difficulty
Pick more than one for a sheet that mixes them.
The preview can look cramped on a phone. The PDF and printed sheet come out normal.
A cyclist rides 150 km at 30 km/h. How long does it take?
Use d = rt with d = 150 and r = 30: 150 = 30t.
Divide by 30: t = 5.
The answer is 5 hours.
Where students go wrong
Multiplying when the question asks for the time. Time is distance divided by speed, so 120 km at 40 km/h takes 120 ÷ 40 = 3 hours, not 120 × 40.
Also called uniform motion problems, rate problems, upstream and downstream, two trains problems or speed distance time.
What you can put on this worksheet
Distance, rate and time
A train travels 525 miles at 75 mph. How long does it take?→ 7 hours
Catching up, round trips, opposite directions
A boat takes 10 hours to reach an island and 11 hours to come back the same way at 13 km/h. How fast did it go on the way there? Round to the nearest hundredth.→ 14.30 km/h
Faster by, head start, late start apart, round trip
Ana drives away at 43 km/h. 2 hours later Omar drives from the same place the opposite way at 64 km/h. How many hours does Omar travel until they are 407 km apart?→ 3 hours
Questions about these worksheets
Yes. Every distance, rate and time word problems sheet is free to print and free to download as a PDF. There is no account to make, no email to hand over and no limit on how many you take.
Yes. The answer key prints on a second page, and you can choose whether it shows each question beside its answer or just the answers in a list.
Yes. Print straight from the page, or download the PDF and print that. The sheet is laid out for paper rather than squeezed off a screen, so there is room to work under each question, and the answer key comes out on its own page.
Algebra 1 is usually taken around 8th or 9th grade, though schools vary and plenty of students meet it earlier or later. Pick the difficulty rather than the grade: the easy level suits a first lesson on it, the hard level suits review before a test.
Yes, as many as you like. The questions are built fresh each time rather than picked from a fixed set of files, so pressing Generate gives a new sheet. That is what you want for a second class, a retake, or two students sitting next to each other.
That is the closest comparison, and Kuta Software is good software. It is also paid software you install on a computer. These worksheets run in a browser tab for free, with no account and nothing to install. Like Kuta, the distance, rate and time word problems questions are generated when you ask for them rather than pulled from a fixed set of files, so two classes never get the same sheet, and the answer key comes with it.
Yes. There are three levels, and you can tick more than one for a sheet that mixes them, in which case the questions come out easiest first. The harder levels are not just larger numbers: they ask for something the easy ones do not.
You pick from 3: distance, rate and time, catching up, round trips, opposite directions and faster by, head start, late start apart, round trip. Tick as many as you want and set how many of each, or let it spread them evenly.
Using one traveler’s speed for a problem with two. When both are moving the gap closes at the sum of the speeds if they approach and the difference if they chase, and picking the wrong one puts the answer out by a factor.