Fractions, decimals and percentsGrade 6
Ratios worksheet with answer key
This generator prints a sixth-grade ratios sheet. Choose simplifying, equivalent ratios, unit rates, ratio tables or a mix, set 6 to 24 problems, and print it with an answer key or save a PDF.
- Fresh problems every time
- Answer key on its own page
- Print or PDF, Letter or A4
- Free, no sign-up
On this page
What a ratio sheet practices
A ratio compares two quantities, such as 3 cups of flour to 2 cups of sugar. Students usually meet the idea in sixth grade, after they are comfortable with multiplication facts and with simplifying fractions. Almost every ratio task comes down to one move: multiply or divide both parts by the same number. This generator turns that move into four kinds of short problems, so a student can practice each one separately or see them side by side.
Ratios are written with a colon on these sheets, like 12 : 18, so there is no fraction bar to confuse with a division problem. The instruction line at the top of the page repeats the key rule and defines a unit rate as "how much for one."
Choosing a skill
The Skill menu controls what the sheet contains.
- Simplify ratios prints pairs like 18 : 42 that always reduce, because each pair was built by scaling a smaller ratio. The answer line asks for the reduced pair.
- Equivalent ratios (missing number) gives one complete ratio and one with a gap, either in the first or the second position.
- Unit rates uses short real-life pairings such as pages and days, or dollars and tickets. The student divides to find the amount for one.
- Ratio tables prints a five-column table with two blanks for the student to fill in.
- Mixed rotates through all four.
Number of problems runs from 6 to 24. Simplifying and equivalent ratios fit two to a row. Unit rates and tables take a full row each, so a long sheet of those will run to a second page sooner.
For a first session, use one skill at a time. Simplifying is the best opening act because it is purely about finding a common factor. Once that is steady, move to missing numbers, and keep tables and unit rates for last, since they ask the student to notice a pattern across several pairs.
Worked example: unit rate and a ratio table
Take the unit rate problem 84 pages for 6 days, with the answer written as "___ pages per day."
- Identify the quantity being measured (pages) and the quantity it is measured against (days).
- Divide the pages by the days: 84 ÷ 6 = 14.
- Write the answer with its unit: 14 pages per day.
- Check by multiplying back: 14 × 6 = 84.
Now a ratio table that reads 2 : 5, 4 : __, 6 : 15, 8 : 20, __ : 25. The first column pair gives the base ratio, 2 : 5. Going from 2 to 4 means multiplying by 2, so the missing second number is 5 × 2 = 10. Going from 25 back to 5 means multiplying by 5, so the missing first number is 2 × 5 = 10. The completed table is 2 : 5, 4 : 10, 6 : 15, 8 : 20, 10 : 25.
What to look for on the answer key
- Reduced only partway. A student who turns 18 : 42 into 9 : 21 has divided by 2 but not finished. The key shows 3 : 7, so the check is whether the two parts still share a factor.
- Adding instead of multiplying. In 3 : 8 = 12 : __, a student may add 9 to the first part and then add 9 to the second, getting 17. The key shows 32, because 3 × 4 = 12 means 8 × 4.
- Flipped rates. If the question asks for pages per day and the student writes days per page, the number will be a decimal or fraction instead of a whole number.
Where this fits
If simplifying ratios feels shaky, practice the same factor-finding with the simplifying fractions worksheet. For students who are ready for the next idea, the percent of change worksheet builds on the same proportional thinking. Multiplication fluency underneath all of this is covered by the twelves multiplication table sheet.