This study examined how word-problem characteristics influenced students' learning and retention of word-problem knowledge during and after an intervention. The participants were 221 fourth-grade students (average age at pretest = 8.8 years) who experienced word-problem difficulties (WPD) and had received a word-problem intervention in third grade. Findings from this exploratory[ study revealed the intervention had the potential to enhance the learning and retention of word problems involving tables. Moreover, students experiencing WPD faced the greatest challenges with two-step word problems and problems featuring two schemas. However, participation in the intervention did not lead to easier learning and retention of word problems with specific schemas (e.g., "total") or including irrelevant information. This suggests that the difficulty of certain word-problem characteristics is not fixed but can change, with some the difficulty of some characteristics more likely to become easier during or after an intervention.