Cloze
A sentence has a word missing, and you pick the word that fills the gap. Here's how to choose the right one every time.
Chapter 1
What are cloze questions?
Each question is a sentence with one word taken out. You choose the word that fills the gap, so the sentence makes sense.
In Missing Word, Rush’s game of it, all four options are the same kind of word and they often look alike. So you need to know exactly what each one means.
The sentence. Your clue to the missing word, often after the gap.
The gap. The words either side say what kind of word goes in.
At its top level, Missing Word also asks grammar gaps, where the options are one word in four forms. That’s chapter 4.
The neighbours had a _____ about the fence.
Which word fills the gap?
- Option 1: diligence
- Option 2: disarray
- Option 3: dismay
- Option 4: dispute
A Verbal question from Rush, level 2.
What kind of word does the gap need?
The words either side of the gap tell you. Almost every Rush answer is one of these four. The Grammar page has more on each.
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Noun (naming word). A person, place, thing or idea.
After a, an, the or my, when no noun follows the gap.
We had a picnic by the river.
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Adjective (describing word). What something is like.
After was, felt or looked, or between a and a noun.
Tom felt nervous before the race.
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Verb (doing or being word). What someone does, or what something is.
After to, will, can or must.
We will explore the cave.
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Adverb (how word). How something is done.
After a verb. Often ends in -ly.
She spoke softly to the puppy.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 4 steps.
Here’s the question, one step at a time.
The question
The neighbours had a _____ about the fence.
Which word fills the gap?
- Option 1: diligence
- Option 2: disarray
- Option 3: dismay
- Option 4: dispute
A Verbal question from Rush, level 2.
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Step 1
Read it all. Say your own word.
Read to the full stop before you look at the options. Neighbours, a fence, something they had about it: they argued. Your own word is argument.
The neighbours had a ______ about the fence.
argument
Your own word, before you look at the options.
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Step 2
Name the kind of word.
After a comes a noun, or an adjective and then a noun. Here about comes straight after the gap, so the gap is the noun itself.
In Rush, all four options are always the right kind. So the meaning decides.
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Step 3
Match the meaning.
Say what each option means, and find the one closest to your own word. Only dispute means an argument.
- diligencecareful, steady effort
- disarraya mess
- dismayshock and upset
- disputean argument
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Step 4
Put it in and read it back.
Read the whole sentence with your choice in it. It must make sense and sound like real English. Check the little words too: a means one thing, and an goes before a vowel sound.
The neighbours had a dispute about the fence.
- It makes sense: neighbours argue.
- You can have a dispute.
- A, not an: dispute starts with d.
The three wrong answers
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Dismay fits the words beside it. Neighbours could feel dismay about a fence, so “dismay about the fence” sounds fine. | Read the whole sentence. You feel dismay, but you can’t have a dismay. |
| Disarray fits the fence. A broken fence could be in disarray, a mess. | Ask what the gap is. It’s something the neighbours had, not how the fence looked. |
| Diligence looks like the rest. All four start with di, so a quick look can’t tell them apart. | Say what each one means. Diligence is steady hard work, nothing like an argument. |
So it’s dispute. A dispute is an argument, and neighbours can have one about a fence.
Remember: Read it all, say your word.
Chapter 3
The catches.
Four ways a wrong word can look right. Spot them and they stop working.
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Mia’s room was ______. Clothes and toys covered the floor.
tidymessyThe clue can come after the gap
Read to the full stop, and into the next sentence.
“Mia’s room was tidy” sounds fine on its own. Only the next sentence, with clothes all over the floor, tells you it’s messy.
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The test looked hard, but it was really quite ______.
difficultsimpleBut turns it round
After but, although or yet, the gap goes against what came first.
Trap: difficult agrees with hard, the word you just read. But says the test turned out the other way: simple.
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The magician made the coin ______.
varnishvanquishvanishLook-alikes: know each one
When the options look alike, say what each one means.
Varnish is to paint on a shiny coat, vanquish is to beat an enemy, and vanish is to disappear. In nearly half of Missing Word’s questions, another option starts like the answer.
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Dad ______ a mistake on the shopping list.
didmadeSome words go together
Pick the word people really say with the words around it.
You make a mistake, do your homework and pay attention. Trap: did means nearly the same, but nobody says “did a mistake”.
Chapter 4
One word, four forms.
Missing Word mixes these in at its top level. Every option means the same thing, so only the grammar decides.
The options are one word changed four ways, like sink, sank, sunk and sinks. Knowing what sink means won’t help here.
The words around the gap tell you which form fits. Look first at the word just before it.
The ship had _____ before help arrived.
Which word fills the gap?
- Option 1: sunk
- Option 2: sank
- Option 3: sink
- Option 4: sinks
A Verbal question from Rush, level 3.
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Step 1
Spot one word in four forms.
Sunk, sank, sink and sinks are all the word sink. So stop thinking about meaning, and look for the grammar clue.
sinksanksunksinks
Four forms of sink.
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Step 2
Find the word before the gap.
It’s had. After had, sink becomes sunk: sink, sank, had sunk. Sank stands on its own, as in “the ship sank”. So it’s sunk.
The ship had sunk before help arrived.
Not “had sank”: after had, use sunk.
What decides the form
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had, has or haveThe form that goes with them: rung, eaten, sunk.
The bell has rung for lunch.
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will, can, must or toThe plain form.
Will you help me with this heavy box?
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for, without or keptThe -ing form.
Without saying a word, he left the room.
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Who: one or more?One takes is, was, eats. More take are, were, eat.
Snakes eat their prey whole.
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When: a time wordYesterday, last week, long ago: the past.
Long ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
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Two things in the pastHad for the one that happened first.
When I phoned Gran, she had already gone to bed.
Every sentence here is a real Rush question. The Grammar page has more on who and when, and the catches they set.
Chapter 5: In the exam
Passages, word banks and missing letters.
Rush asks one sentence at a time. Exam papers often put the gaps in a short passage, with five options for each. The same steps work: read it all first.
The questionSam lifted the lid (1) ______. Inside lay a tiny glass bird, as thin as paper. He held his breath, (2) ______ even a sneeze might break it.(1) careful, carefully, care, cared, caring(2) because, although, unless, until, so
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Step 1
Read the whole passage first.
Read to the end before you fill anything in. A bird as thin as paper is easy to break, so Sam is being careful. That clue comes after gap 1.
Inside lay a tiny glass bird, as thin as paper.
The clue to both gaps.
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Step 2
Gap 1: the right form.
All five are about care, so the form decides. The gap says how Sam lifted the lid, so it needs an adverb (a how word): carefully. Careful has the right meaning, but it’s an adjective: it describes a thing, as in a careful boy.
carefulcarefullycarecaredcaringHow did he lift it? Carefully.
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Step 3
Gap 2: say what the link is.
Each conjunction (joining word) does its own job. Why did Sam hold his breath? Because a sneeze might break the bird: a reason.
- becausea reason
- soa result
- althougha surprise
- untilup to a time
- unlessif not
So it’s carefully, then because. Carefully says how he lifted the lid. Because gives the reason he held his breath.
Remember: Whole passage first, then each gap.
Other ways the exam asks it
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One word bank for every gap
Fill the gaps you’re sure of first, and cross each word off.
Usually each word goes in one gap only, so the harder gaps end up with fewer words left. Trap: a word that seems to fit two gaps. Fill the other gap first.
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Our ______ kitten peeped into every box.
C U O SSome letters are given
Each dash or box is one letter. Your word must fit the meaning and every letter.
A kitten that peeps into every box wants to know things: curious. Trap: nosy means the same, but it doesn’t fit the letters.
Chapter 6
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Read it all. Say your own word.
- Name the kind of word.
- Match the meaning.
- Put it in and read it back.
Remember: Read it all, say your word.
For parents.
What parents ask us about cloze.
Questions parents ask
What is a cloze test in the 11+?
A sentence or passage with words taken out, where your child chooses the word that fits each gap. Some cloze questions test vocabulary, where every option means something different. Others test grammar, where the options are forms of one word or small joining words.
Is cloze part of verbal reasoning or English?
It can be either. Some tests put single gap-fill sentences in verbal reasoning, others put a cloze passage in the English paper. The method is the same in both.
Are cloze passages harder than single sentences?
A little. In a passage the clue for one gap can sit in the sentence before it or after it, so read the whole passage once before filling anything in. Then take each gap with the same method as a single sentence, and read the finished passage through at the end.
How can I help with cloze at home?
When you read aloud together, pause before a word and let your child say what comes next. That is cloze, and it trains the habit of using the whole sentence. For the grammar kind, talk about forms you hear in daily speech, like 'we was' or 'I had went', and what the written form would be.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise cloze in Rush.
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