The open side faces the bigger number
52 and 25 have the same digits; so do 4,518 and 4,581. A comparing sheet earns its keep on pairs like those — the ones a child gets wrong by looking at the wrong place.
Compare from the biggest place down.
A comparing numbers worksheet generator, printable as a PDF. Thirty-odd pairs a page with a circle between them for >, < or =. Pick the range by grade: within 10 for kindergarten, 100 for first grade, 1,000 for second, a million for fourth. Most pairs are close — the same digits swapped, or the same leading digits — and about one in ten is equal, so = is a real answer. The sums mode puts an addition or subtraction on one side, 7 + 5 against 13, which teaches the equal sign as “the same as.” A how-it-works panel at the top shows each sign, and can be switched off. With an answer key.
1 token a sheet, fewer in batches.
US Letter PDF — prints on any home printer.
Line up
Look at the biggest place first: hundreds, then tens, then ones.
Decide
Where the digits first differ, the bigger digit wins.
Write
The open side of the sign faces the bigger number.
Numbers within
Most pairs are close — 52 and 25, 4,518 and 4,581 — so the child has to look past the first digit.
Compare
Your worksheet lands here — download, print, or email it.