About this worksheet
Children write number names on cheques, forms and exam papers all their lives, and spelling them is a skill of its own. This sheet gives numbers to write in words, or words to write in figures, using Indian number names: thousand, lakh and crore.
What this skill is
Writing a number in words joins three skills: reading the number in periods (crores, lakhs, thousands, and the last three digits), knowing the name of each part, and spelling it. Going the other way, from words to figures, tests whether the child puts zeros in the places that the words do not mention.
A worked example
Write 7,04,019 in words.
- Split at the commas: 7 | 04 | 019.
- The first part is lakhs: seven lakh.
- The second is thousands: four thousand.
- The last part is nineteen. There are no hundreds, so nothing is said for them.
Answer: seven lakh, four thousand and nineteen.
The other way: "two lakh, six thousand and five" is 2,06,005. The lakhs place has 2, the thousands part is 06, and the last three digits are 005.
Tips for parents and teachers
- Spellings that need practice: forty (not fourty), ninety, eleven, twelve, fifteen, eighteen.
- Numbers from 21 to 99 take a hyphen: twenty-one, sixty-five.
- For big numbers, read period by period from the left: 4,52,318 is four lakh, fifty-two thousand, three hundred and eighteen.
How to use this sheet at home and in class
- At home: choose "Numbers up to 100" for classes 1 and 2 and treat it as a spelling sheet. One to twenty, then the tens, are the words to learn.
- In class: use "Write the words in figures" as a dictation follow-up. Children who write 2,06,005 as 2,65 or 20,605 need place value work first.
- For older children, link it to real forms: a cheque or a fee receipt has the amount in figures and in words.
Mistakes to watch for
- Spelling slips: fourty for forty, ninty for ninety, fourteen and forty mixed up, eightteen for eighteen.
- Saying "lakhs" and "thousands" with an s inside a number name. We write "five lakh", not "five lakhs", when it is part of a number.
- Dropping zeros when changing words to figures. Draw the place boxes first and fill them from the left.
What to try next
- Place value worksheets: if zeros are going missing.
- Letter and number tracing worksheets: for the youngest writers.
- Roman numerals worksheets: another way of writing numbers.
Ready settings by class
Common questions
How do you write 1,00,000 in words?
One lakh. In the Indian system, 1,00,000 is one lakh and 1,00,00,000 is one crore.