Grade 1 number sense lesson
Numbers and Their Names: Number Words, Examples, Chart, and Practice
Numbers can be written as numerals or as words. Learning number names helps students read, write, and explain numbers clearly.
What are numbers and their names?
A number tells how many.
A number can be written with digits, like 8, or with words, like eight.
The digit form is called a numeral. The word form is called the number name or number word.
For example, 24 is the numeral, and twenty-four is its number name.
Printable Numbers and Their Names chart
Use this chart to read and write number names from 0 to 100.
The same chart is also listed in the Printable Number Reference Charts section with print and download buttons.
Numeral and number name
A numeral is the number written with digits.
A number name is the number written with words.
6 is the numeral. six is the number name.
19 is the numeral. nineteen is the number name.
100 is the numeral. one hundred is the number name.
Number names from 0 to 10
The first number names should be learned carefully because they appear inside many larger number names.
0: zero. 1: one. 2: two. 3: three. 4: four.
5: five. 6: six. 7: seven. 8: eight. 9: nine. 10: ten.
These names are used again when writing numbers like twenty-one, thirty-two, and ninety-eight.
Number names from 11 to 20
The numbers from 11 to 20 have special names, so students usually need extra practice with them.
11 is eleven, 12 is twelve, 13 is thirteen, 14 is fourteen, and 15 is fifteen.
16 is sixteen, 17 is seventeen, 18 is eighteen, 19 is nineteen, and 20 is twenty.
Notice the tricky spellings: twelve, fifteen, and eighteen.
Tens names
Tens names help students write larger two-digit numbers.
20: twenty. 30: thirty. 40: forty. 50: fifty.
60: sixty. 70: seventy. 80: eighty. 90: ninety.
The spelling of forty is important. It is not written as fourty.
How to write 21 to 99
Most numbers from 21 to 99 are written by joining the tens name and the ones name.
Use the tens part first, then the ones part.
23 = twenty-three.
47 = forty-seven.
68 = sixty-eight.
91 = ninety-one.
When writing formal number names, use a hyphen between the tens word and the ones word: twenty-one, thirty-four, seventy-six.
Exact tens do not need a ones word
If a number ends in 0, it is an exact ten.
30 is thirty, not thirty-zero.
50 is fifty, not fifty-zero.
80 is eighty, not eighty-zero.
The 0 shows there are no extra ones after the tens.
100 is one hundred
The number 100 is written as one hundred.
It means 10 tens or 100 ones.
In Grade 1, students often learn 100 by counting groups of ten: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.
Worked examples
Example 1: Write 14 in words. Answer: fourteen.
Example 2: Write 35 in words. The tens part is thirty and the ones part is five, so the answer is thirty-five.
Example 3: Write 40 in words. Answer: forty.
Example 4: Write seventy-two as a numeral. Seventy means 70 and two means 2, so the numeral is 72.
Example 5: Write one hundred as a numeral. Answer: 100.
Common mistakes
Do not write fourty. The correct spelling is forty.
Do not write exact tens with zero at the end of the name. Write sixty, not sixty-zero.
Do not mix up thirteen and thirty. Thirteen is 13. Thirty is 30.
Do not forget the hyphen in formal names like twenty-six and ninety-nine.
Quick practice
1. Write 7 in words. Answer: seven.
2. Write 18 in words. Answer: eighteen.
3. Write 29 in words. Answer: twenty-nine.
4. Write 40 in words. Answer: forty.
5. Write 83 in words. Answer: eighty-three.
6. Write one hundred as a numeral. Answer: 100.
7. Write sixty-four as a numeral. Answer: 64.