Perimeter Worksheets: Rectilinear Shapes

Year 6 maths worksheets on perimeter of rectangles and compound shapes: 36 questions in three levels (All, Most, Some) with answers. Free PDF.

7-page A4 PDF from the Tiger Shark Education question bank. All: Find the perimeter of a rectangle. Most: Find the perimeter of shapes with missing side lengths. Some: Find perimeters of compound shapes, and compare area and perimeter. Each level is two pages of six questions, each with its own diagram and space for working, and the last page has every answer, with short working for multi-step questions. Each level is also available as its own 3-page PDF. Example questions from the Some level: Work out the perimeter of this compound shape. (3 cm, 3 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm) / Shapes A and B are made of squares. Which has the greater area, and which has the greater perimeter? Write A, B or same.

What is perimeter? Perimeter is the total distance around the outside of a shape. For rectilinear shapes (shapes made of right angles), some side lengths may be missing and need to be worked out from the others. Year 6 pupils recognise that shapes with the same area can have different perimeters.

Common mistakes and tips: The most common error is missing a side when adding or confusing perimeter with area. With compound rectilinear shapes, pupils often forget to calculate missing lengths. Marking each side as it is counted, and labelling missing sides before adding, prevents most mistakes.

This topic is part of the Year 6 National Curriculum for maths, and it regularly appears on the KS2 SATs papers. The All, Most and Some levels let you check basic fluency first and then move on to the multi-step, contextual questions found on the reasoning papers.

How teachers use these sheets: as a lesson’s independent task, as a starter to revisit a topic from earlier in the year, or as a revision pack in the weeks before the SATs. Children can mark their own work with the answer page, then explain one mistake to a partner to deepen understanding.

Reasoning and explanation: once children can answer the questions, ask them to explain their method to a partner or write a short explanation of one answer. The SATs reasoning papers include ‘explain how you know’ questions, and talking about methods deepens understanding far more than repeating calculations.

Use All for children working towards the expected standard, Most for secure Year 5 skills and Some for SATs-standard practice: three entry points to the same lesson. Suits whole-class differentiation, intervention groups, homework and SATs revision, and upper KS2 generally.

Part of a set of 42 Year 6 maths topics.