AbstractBackgroundDifferent domain‐specific and domain‐general cognitive precursors play a key role in the development of mathematical abilities. The contribution of these domains to mathematical ability changes during development. Primary school‐aged children who show mathematical difficulties form a heterogeneous group, but it is not clear whether this also holds for preschool low achievers (LAs) and how domain‐specific and domain‐general abilities contribute to mathematical difficulties at a young age. The aim of this study was to explore the cognitive characteristics of a sample of preschool LAs and identify sub‐types of LAs.Methods81 children were identified as LAs from 283 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years old and were assessed on a number of domain‐general and domain‐specific tasks.ResultsCluster analysis revealed four subgroups of LAs in mathematics: (1) a weak processing sub‐type; (2) a general mathematical LAs sub‐type; (3) a mixed abilities sub‐type; and (4) a visuo‐spatial deficit sub‐type. Whilst two of the groups showed specific domain‐general difficulties, none showed only domain‐specific difficulties.ConclusionsCurrent findings suggest that preschool LAs constitute a heterogeneous group and stress the importance of domain‐general factors for the development of mathematical abilities during the preschool years.