Which operation would typically be used to solve for the total in a word problem involving items purchased?

In word problems that involve calculating a total based on items purchased, addition is the operation that is most commonly employed. When you purchase multiple items, you usually need to add the costs of those items together to arrive at the overall total. For instance, if you buy three different products with their respective prices, you would sum those prices to find out how much you spent in total.

This context clarifies why addition is the correct choice; it directly relates to combining quantities to arrive at an aggregate sum. In contrast, subtraction is typically used for finding the difference between amounts, multiplication could be relevant if you were calculating the total cost of multiple items of the same price, and division is employed for distributing a total into equal parts or finding how many times one number fits into another. Therefore, in the context of calculating a total from purchased items, addition is the most fitting operation.