Generate cloze (fill in the blank) exercises from any passage. Choose interval or random blanking and difficulty.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software
Use cloze-test generation for classroom comprehension exercises, language-learning drills, vocabulary practice, and reading-research studies. The cloze procedure is the gold standard against which readability formulas were originally validated.
Cloze tests are an assessment tool, not a metric. Pair the generator with a readability score (Flesch or Dale–Chall) to choose appropriate source material before generating items.
A cloze test removes words from a passage and asks readers to fill them in. It is used to measure both comprehension and vocabulary.
You can blank every Nth word (the classic format) or randomly blank a percentage of words. Optionally exclude capitalised words to avoid blanking proper nouns.
The answer key is generated below the passage so you can print and use it in class.
A cloze test removes words from a passage and asks readers to fill them in. It measures both vocabulary and comprehension.
Interval blanking (every Nth word) is the classic format and easier to score. Random blanking lets you target specific word types.
Classic cloze readability tests delete every fifth, sixth, or seventh word; every seventh is gentler and every fifth is harder. For vocabulary practice, targeting specific word types instead of a fixed interval is often more useful.
The strict method counts only the exact original word as correct, while the acceptable-word method also credits reasonable synonyms. Exact scoring is standard for comparing readability across passages.
Input
"The cat sat on the mat." with every 3rd word blanked.
Output
"The cat ___ on ___ mat."
Cloze tests measure both reading comprehension and vocabulary, since readers must use surrounding context to recover the missing word.
Every other text measure on this site infers difficulty from surface features. A cloze test measures it directly: delete words from a passage, give it to a real reader, and see how many they can restore. Restoration rate is a comprehension measurement rather than a prediction of one.
The classic procedure deletes every nth word — commonly every fifth — from a passage of about 250 words, leaving the first and last sentences intact so the reader has context to work from. This tool builds that automatically, and can also delete at random or by percentage rather than at a fixed interval.
Conventional cloze scoring counts only exact restorations of the deleted word, and the resulting bands are much lower than test scores elsewhere: roughly 60% and above indicates the reader can handle the material independently, 40–60% means it works with support, and below 40% means the text is too hard.
A 45% score is therefore not a fail. Scoring synonyms as correct raises figures substantially and breaks comparability with those published bands, so pick one convention and keep to it across everything you compare.
The deletion setting is the other thing to hold constant. Deleting every fifth word is much harder than every tenth, and the bands assume the classic interval.
How long does your text take to read?
Writing & editingTwitter-weighted character counter with thread split.
Writing & editingTitle + description pixel-width validator with SERP preview.
Writing & editingCounts sentences, paragraphs, and length distribution.