• 17 marks
  • Checked September 2026

Label the Ruler

Name each mark on the first inch of a ruler, from 1/2 down to the sixteenths.

Label the Ruler

Name Date

Which fraction of an inch is this?

1 of 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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Write the name of each numbered mark.Answer key

  1. 0
  2. 1 inch
  3. 1/2
  4. 1/4
  5. 3/4
  6. 1/8
  7. 3/8
  8. 5/8
  9. 7/8
  10. 1/16
  11. 3/16
  12. 5/16
  13. 7/16
  14. 9/16
  15. 11/16
  16. 13/16
  17. 15/16

Drawn for this site by script, each tick at its true fraction of the inch, 2026-09-23. Licence: own work.

Each mark is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a mark is answered.

Next step Every math and classroom diagram

All 17 marks on the diagram

Show the list

Halves, quarters, eighths 7

  1. 1/2 Halfway: the longest tick between the inch marks.
  2. 1/4 1/4 = 2/8 = 4/16, the next-longest tick.
  3. 3/4 3/4 = 6/8 = 12/16, the next-longest tick.
  4. 1/8 1/8 = 2/16, halfway between 0 and 1/4.
  5. 3/8 3/8 = 6/16, halfway between 1/4 and 1/2.
  6. 5/8 5/8 = 10/16, halfway between 1/2 and 3/4.
  7. 7/8 7/8 = 14/16, halfway between 3/4 and 1 inch.

Sixteenths 8

  1. 1/16 The shortest tick, between 0 and 1/8.
  2. 3/16 The shortest tick, between 1/8 and 1/4.
  3. 5/16 The shortest tick, between 1/4 and 3/8.
  4. 7/16 The shortest tick, between 3/8 and 1/2.
  5. 9/16 The shortest tick, between 1/2 and 5/8.
  6. 11/16 The shortest tick, between 5/8 and 3/4.
  7. 13/16 The shortest tick, between 3/4 and 7/8.
  8. 15/16 The shortest tick, between 7/8 and 1 inch.

Other 2

  1. 0 The start of the inch: line the object up here.
  2. 1 inch One whole inch: 16 sixteenths from the start.

How this list was compiled: Grade fit: Common Core State Standards for Mathematics as published by the California Department of Education, https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/ccssmathstandardaug2013.pdf, read 2026-09-23: grade 3, 3.MD.B.4 (measure with rulers marked in halves and fourths of an inch); grade 4, 4.MD.B.4 (measurements in fractions of a unit, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8). The ticks themselves are arithmetic: the script that draws the ruler places tick k at k/16 of the inch and gives it the length of the smallest denominator of k/16 in lowest terms, so the drawing and the key cannot disagree. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site by script, each tick at its true fraction of the inch, 2026-09-23. Licence: own work

How it works

Label the ruler one mark at a time: a tick on the enlarged first inch lights up and you pick its fraction. The longer the tick, the bigger the step it marks: halves, quarters, eighths, then sixteenths.

Read the full guide

Two rounds: eighths, then sixteenths

The first round asks 1/2, the two quarters and the four eighths. The second asks the eight odd sixteenths, the shortest ticks. Answers are in lowest terms, so the middle mark is 1/2; typed, 2/4, 4/8 and 8/16 count too.

A label the ruler worksheet

After a round, print the ruler blank, with numbered ticks and lines to write on, or labeled as the answer key.

  • Any odd number of sixteenths, like 5/16 or 11/16, is one of the shortest ticks.

Questions and answers

What are the lines on a ruler called?

Tick marks, or graduations. On an inch ruler the inch mark is longest, then the half inch, the quarters, the eighths and the sixteenths, each set shorter than the one before.

How do you read a ruler in sixteenths?

Count the smallest spaces from the last whole inch. Each is 1/16 inch, so 5 spaces is 5/16. If the count is even, halve both numbers: 6/16 is 3/8 and 8/16 is 1/2.

Which grade learns fractions of an inch?

In the Common Core math standards, grade 3 measures with rulers marked in halves and fourths of an inch, and grade 4 records measurements in halves, quarters and eighths. Sixteenths are not named in those grades.

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