Cloze Deletion Generator

A cloze deletion hides a word inside a sentence and asks you to recall it from context. This generator converts your sentences into Anki's cloze format, {{c1::word}}, and builds a printable fill-in-the-blank worksheet with a word bank and answer key, for self-study or for a class.

What the generator does

The tool splits your text into sentences, finds each target word, and wraps it in Anki's cloze markup. It matches whole words case-insensitively and also catches simple inflections, so the target mitigate finds mitigated and mitigates. Sentences without any target word are skipped and counted in the note under the widget. The worksheet replaces the same words with blanks, numbers each sentence and lists the answers at the end.

How the automatic modes pick words

If you do not list target words, two automatic modes choose one word per sentence:

• Least common word skips words on a built-in list of a few hundred very frequent English words and then prefers the longest remaining word. It is a rough stand-in for frequency, based on the fact that rare words tend to be longer (an effect related to Zipf's law).
• Longest word simply hides the longest word of four letters or more.

Automatic picks are a draft. Read through the output and change the target list when the tool hides a name or an easy word.

Separate cards or one card?

With Separate cards, each hidden word in a sentence gets its own number (c1, c2, c3), and Anki creates one card per number, each hiding only that word. With One card per sentence, all deletions share c1 and are hidden at once. For vocabulary, one deletion per sentence is usually best: the rest of the sentence works as a context clue, and you practice the word in a real collocation. Hints appear in place of the blank in Anki, which helps when a sentence allows several correct answers.

Why cloze cards work

Filling a gap forces active recall of the form of the word, not just recognition, and retrieval practice is one of the most reliable ways to strengthen memory (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). Because the word is embedded in a sentence, you also learn how it is used: its grammar, typical partners and register. This is the core idea behind sentence mining: collect sentences you met in real reading and turn them into cards. The sentence mining guide walks through the full workflow.

Limitations

• Sentence splitting uses end punctuation, so abbreviations like "e.g." or "Dr." can split a sentence early. Put each sentence on its own line to avoid this.
• Inflection matching covers regular endings only. Irregular forms (go and went) need to be listed separately.
• The "least common" mode is a heuristic, not a real frequency lookup.
• A sentence where the blank has many plausible answers makes a weak card. Add a hint or choose a more specific sentence.

Sources: Roediger, H. L. & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3).

How to use this tool

1. Paste one or more sentences, ideally ones you met in real reading.
2. Type the target words to hide, separated by commas, or choose an automatic mode.
3. Pick the card numbering and an optional hint, such as the first letter.
4. Copy the Anki cloze lines or download them, then import with the Cloze note type.
5. Use the worksheet view to print a fill-in-the-blank exercise with a word bank and answer key.