Length measurement plays a prominent role in most countries. The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in Taiwanese and German elementary written textbooks concerning the treatment of length understanding, measurement, and estimation. Our analysis showed that procedural affordances dominate the conceptual learning situations in both countries, even more in Germany than in Taiwan. Although ‘units can be converted’, ‘reasoning and justification’ and ‘benchmark learning’ were the most common conceptual elements in both countries, their importance differed. The comparison of procedural elements showed that both countries mainly focused on ‘unit conversion’, ‘measuring with a ruler’, and ‘addition and subtraction of length’. The Taiwanese textbooks concentrated more on concrete actions, whereas the German textbooks focused on more abstract and mental procedures.