--- title: "Markdown cloze exercise template: numbered gaps in a passage" slug: markdown-cloze-exercise-template excerpt: "Write a short passage with numbered blanks and keep its completed form beneath it in one Markdown file. Adapt the invented Doe paragraph for your own text." quickAnswer: "Use a title placeholder, one instruction sentence, a passage with numbered blanks, and a separate Completed passage heading. Each blank replaces one word. The completed paragraph repeats the passage with those words restored." keyTakeaways: - "The example leaves three words out of a short paragraph." - "Each numbered blank stands for a single missing word." - "The completed passage retains the sentences around the gaps." - "Parentheses and underscores keep the gaps readable in plain text." - "A passage-based filename identifies the exercise within a folder." publishedDate: 2026-10-23 dateModified: 2026-10-23 author: Bobby Huang cluster: A role: post status: published faq: - q: "Which words are absent from the example?" a: "Three words are missing from a paragraph of three sentences. Each gap has its own number." - q: "Where do the missing words appear?" a: "The Completed passage section contains the entire paragraph with the missing words restored." - q: "How do I reuse the example?" a: "Replace the title and both paragraphs with your own passage, keeping the numbered gaps paired with the words in the completed form." related: - markdown-translation-template --- A cloze exercise presents a passage with words left out for a learner to fill in. This Markdown cloze exercise template uses numbered blanks within a short paragraph, followed by the same paragraph with every word present. The sentences stay in the same language throughout. The file holds both forms of the passage. The incomplete paragraph comes first; a heading separates the completed paragraph beneath it. Copy the block below, replacing its invented text with a paragraph of your own. ## Parts of the cloze page Begin with a title for the passage and one sentence telling the learner what to put in each gap. Within the paragraph, use a numbered blank wherever you leave out a word. Put the complete paragraph after that, beneath its own heading. The exercise concerns the missing words within those sentences. Its completed form repeats those sentences in full, rather than explaining a situation or changing the passage into another language. Keeping both forms together lets you compare a gap with the word that occupies its place. Save the text with a .md ending. Read [about the .md ending](what-is-a-md-file.md) for its connection to Markdown text. ## The cloze exercise template Fictional tutor Jane Doe writes this exercise for a fictional learner called Doe. The paragraph is her own invented wording about a basket, apples and a cloth. ```markdown # [Cloze exercise title] An invented passage by fictional tutor Jane Doe for fictional learner Doe. Fill each numbered blank with one word. ## Passage with blanks Doe carried a (1) ____ into the kitchen. Three red (2) ____ rested inside it. Doe spread a cloth on the bench and placed the fruit on the (3) ____. ## Completed passage Doe carried a basket into the kitchen. Three red apples rested inside it. Doe spread a cloth on the bench and placed the fruit on the cloth. ``` Replace the bracketed title with a short phrase about your passage. Keep the instruction as a single sentence, or rewrite it to describe the gaps you use. The numbered blanks belong within the sentences, where the omitted words would otherwise appear. In this paragraph, gap 1 takes basket, gap 2 takes apples, and gap 3 takes cloth. The completed paragraph puts those three words back into their original positions. The surrounding wording and punctuation remain identical across the two paragraphs. ## Choosing how much text to leave out For a paragraph this size, start with two or three missing words. That is a suggested size for this template, rather than a claim about how people learn. Jane Doe's example uses three gaps across three sentences, leaving the rest of each sentence visible. Choose the words from your completed paragraph before making its gap form. Keep enough surrounding text to show where each word fits in the sentence. If several adjacent words are missing, the gap form can become a run of blanks; leaving words between the gaps preserves more of the passage on the page. An omitted word may have several plausible replacements. Here, the completed paragraph records Jane Doe's intended wording. It does not establish that no other word could fit a sentence. When changing the paragraph, decide which words you intend to restore and keep that wording in the completed form. ## Keeping numbered blanks readable The literal text `(1) ____` combines a gap number with four underscores. Parentheses keep the number distinct from the blank itself. Basket, apples and cloth each receive four underscores here, regardless of their letter counts. Use spaces around each blank as you would around the word it replaces. Keep punctuation attached to the end of its sentence, as with `(3) ____.` in the sample. Read in plain text, the paragraph still shows both the gap numbers and the underscores. Separate each heading from its paragraph with an empty line. The [paragraph spacing article](markdown-paragraphs-blank-lines.md) contrasts empty lines with individual line endings. Completed passage labels the paragraph with every word present and separates it from the incomplete paragraph. ## Naming the cloze exercise file Try `basket-passage-cloze.md` for this example: its words identify the subject and the exercise form. Keep the paragraph with gaps and its completed paragraph inside that one file, so a differently named file does not hold the intended words elsewhere. For another passage, choose a name that describes its subject. Read [about naming Markdown files](markdown-file-naming.md) for choices about case and word separators. A subject in the filename gives you something to distinguish when several cloze exercise files share a folder. ## Where Sashmark fits Agent-written Markdown is the focus of the desktop reading and editing plans for Sashmark. Both parts of Sashmark are in development and belong to its plans.