Decimal Place Value Chart
Decimals are just place value continuing to the right, past a dot. This chart runs from hundred thousands down to thousandths in one strip and works through 42.607 as an example. Below it: a one-tenth/one-hundredth/one-thousandth reference table with worked numbers, and a breakdown box that names every digit of any decimal you type. Print it for grade 4 and 5.
Decimal Place Value Chart — 42.607
| hundred thousands | ten thousands | thousands | hundreds | tens | ones | . | tenths | hundredths | thousandths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | . | 6 | 0 | 7 |
Click any digit to see what it is worth.
PNG version — the exact file Download PNG saves
The decimal point does not end the pattern — it marks it
Everything to the left of the decimal point follows the rule you already know: each place is ten times the place to its right. The decimal point simply announces that the rule keeps going in the other direction: each place to its right is one tenth of the place to its left. Tenths, hundredths, thousandths — the columns march on, just divided by ten each step instead of multiplied.
Reading decimals trips people up until they learn the trick: read the whole-number part normally, say "and" for the decimal point, then read the decimal digits as if they were a whole number and name the final column. 42.607 becomes "forty-two and six hundred seven thousandths." Reserving "and" for the decimal point (instead of saying it inside big whole numbers) is the habit that makes this foolproof.
Teaching tips
Anchor tenths and hundredths with money
A dime is one tenth of a dollar and a penny is one hundredth. $4.25 is four ones, two tenths, five hundredths — kids who can count money already understand decimal places; the chart just names what they know.
Line up the points, always
Adding and subtracting decimals is a place value skill: stack the numbers so the decimal points form one column. Every "my answer is wrong by a factor of ten" mistake is a point that drifted.
Trailing zeros are free
4.5 and 4.50 name the same number — the extra zero just shows the hundredths place is empty. Comparing 4.5 with 4.47 gets easy once kids pad to 4.50 and see it is 3 hundredths more.
Use grid models alongside
A 10×10 grid where one square is one hundredth makes the columns visible. Shade 0.4 and it fills four columns of ten — tenths you can literally count.
Frequently asked questions
What are the decimal place values?
Moving right from the decimal point: tenths (10⁻¹), hundredths (10⁻²), thousandths (10⁻³), then ten thousandths, hundred thousandths and millionths. Each is one tenth of the place to its left, mirroring how whole-number places each get ten times bigger moving left.
Is the decimal point a place value?
No — it is a marker, not a column. It has no value of its own; it just tells you where the ones column ends and the tenths begin. That is why the point must line up in a column when you add or subtract decimals.
How do you read 42.607 out loud?
"Forty-two and six hundred seven thousandths." Read the whole-number side, say "and" for the point, then read the decimal side as a plain number and attach the name of its last column.
What grade uses decimal place value charts?
Grade 4 introduces tenths and hundredths; grade 5 extends to thousandths and comparing decimals. The chart above also shows the whole-number columns so younger siblings get use out of the same printout.
What is one tenth, one hundredth, and one thousandth?
The first three places to the right of the decimal point. One tenth is 1/10, written 0.1 — a dime. One hundredth is 1/100, written 0.01 — a penny. One thousandth is 1/1,000, written 0.001 — a tenth of a penny, about the thickness of a thin sheet of paper. The reference table further down the page lays all three side by side.
Which is bigger, tenths or hundredths?
Tenths. The tenths column is one tenth of a whole, and the hundredths column is only one hundredth — so 0.1 beats 0.09 even though 9 looks bigger than 1. Size shrinks moving right of the decimal point, the mirror image of how whole numbers grow moving left.
One tenth, one hundredth, one thousandth
Those three names are the entire decimal side of the chart, and each one is a fraction in disguise: one tenth is 1/10, one hundredth is 1/100, one thousandth is 1/1,000. Students already own two of them from money — a dime is one tenth of a dollar, a penny is one hundredth. Thousandths show up on rulers: a millimeter is one thousandth of a meter.
Size runs opposite the whole-number side, and that is the trap: the tenths column is the biggest of the three, so 0.1 beats 0.09 even though 9 looks bigger than 1. The sheet below lays each column next to its fraction, its decimal and its money anchor, then works three example numbers digit by digit — including 12.05, where the empty tenths column is doing real work as a placeholder.
One tenth, one hundredth, one thousandth — what each column is worth
| Place | As a fraction | As a decimal | Said out loud | You already know it from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tenths | 1/10 | 0.1 | one tenth | one dime |
| hundredths | 1/100 | 0.01 | one hundredth | one penny |
| thousandths | 1/1,000 | 0.001 | one thousandth | a tenth of a penny |
Worked examples — every digit named
| Number | Ones | Tenths | Hundredths | Thousandths | Expanded form | In words |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.471 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0.4 + 0.07 + 0.001 | four hundred seventy-one thousandths |
| 8.209 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 8 + 0.2 + 0.009 | eight and two hundred nine thousandths |
| 12.05 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 12 + 0.05 | twelve and five hundredths |
Break down any decimal, digit by digit
Type any decimal — whole part up to hundred thousands, up to three decimal places — and the breakdown names every digit, its place and its worth, then writes the expanded form and the sentence you would say out loud. It updates as you type. What you see below is the default example, already complete, so the page works (and prints) exactly as shown with JavaScript off.
3.156 — every digit named
| Digit | Place | Worth |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | ones | 3 |
| 1 | tenths | 0.1 |
| 5 | hundredths | 0.05 |
| 6 | thousandths | 0.006 |
Expanded form: 3 + 0.1 + 0.05 + 0.006
In words: three and one hundred fifty-six thousandths