Hundreds, tens and ones — reading 3-digit numbers

Every 3-digit number has three jobs to fill — the hundreds place, the tens place and the ones place. The same digit can mean very different things depending on which place it sits in.

The three places

Look at the number 358:

H · T · O

3 · 5 · 8

• The 3 is in the hundreds place — it means 300.
• The 5 is in the tens place — it means 50.
• The 8 is in the ones place — it means 8.

So 358 means 300 + 50 + 8.

Why the place matters

Compare 5 and 50 and 500:

• 5 → 5 ones — five marbles in your hand.
• 50 → 5 tens — five bags of ten.
• 500 → 5 hundreds — five shelves of a hundred.

The digit is the same, but its position makes it ten times bigger each step to the left.

More worked examples

Watch out for zero

A zero in the middle (like in 207) is easy to skip when reading. Always pause and remind yourself: "two hundred — no tens — seven". Skipping the zero turns 207 into 27, and that's a totally different number.

Try it

• ✏️ Hundreds, tens and ones — count blocks and write the number
• 📏 Number line to 1,000 — see where the number lives

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