The study reported in this article sought to explore and observe how grade 9 learners solve real-wor(l)d problems (a) without real context and (b) without real meaning. Learners' abilities to make sense of the decontextualised word problems set in the real world were investigated with regard to learners' use of common sense in relation to problem solving. The results presented in this article are part of a study following a mixed-methods design with the qualitative data informing the quantitative data. The data collection strategies included administering a test to 107 grade 9 learners (in their home language, isiXhosa, and language of learning and teaching, English) and conducting focus group interviews with eight selected learners from a convenience sample. The data demonstrate learners' tendencies to exclude common-sense knowledge, contexts and meaning-making from their solution processes when they engage in word problem-solving in mathematics.