Completing a Password Word-Bank Cloze Accurately

Hello again! In the previous lesson, you used clues between sentences to put a reading passage in order. This time, you will work at a smaller scale: choosing words that fit inside a passage. The same habit still matters—look beyond the nearest word and check whether the complete text makes sense.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to complete a Password-style word-bank cloze by testing each choice for grammar, meaning, and collocation (words that naturally go together). The passage below is practice written for this lesson, not an official Password question. Allow about 35–40 minutes for the reading, short resources, and worked example.

Read the passage before filling the gaps

A word-bank cloze gives you a passage with missing words and a list of possible answers. Your first move should be to read the passage quickly without trying to solve every gap. Establish the topic and what is happening. If you know that a passage describes a school improving its library, you can judge whether a proposed word supports that account.

Next, inspect the sentence containing each gap, including words after it. Three checks work together:

• Grammatical fit: What kind of word or verb form can stand here? In “Students wanted to ___ a survey,” the gap needs the base form of a verb; doing would not fit after to.
• Meaning: Does the word express what this sentence and the wider passage require? Two words can both be verbs but describe different actions.
• Collocation: Do the chosen word and its neighbours form a natural expression? We normally make a decision, not do a decision.

The Cambridge B1 video below demonstrates the value of skimming first, eliminating unsuitable choices, and rereading the finished passage. It shows a four-option cloze, rather than a shared word bank, so borrow the reasoning method, not its exact question format.

A word bank adds one more useful check: read its instructions. Are there extra words? Can each word be used only once? Must you copy words exactly as printed? In our worked example, each answer is used once, three words are extra, and you must not change word forms. These conditions help you check an answer, but they should never be your only reason for choosing it.

Why a grammatically correct word may still be wrong

English words have preferred partners. Heavy traffic is natural; hard traffic is not the usual expression, although hard and heavy can both describe difficult conditions. Likewise, in “They ___ a decision,” made and did are both past-tense verbs, but made a decision is the established combination.

Watch the opening of this explanation of collocation, followed by its examples of common word pairings:

The illustration gives three everyday examples:

The strongest contrast here is take a photo, not make a photo. Treat such illustrations as guidance rather than absolute rules, though: a piece of toast can also be acceptable in some contexts. In a cloze, compare the available words with the specific sentence rather than rejecting a phrase solely because you have seen another preferred expression.

A Cambridge guide shows how this reasoning works in a B1 cloze. Its example chooses known in the expression known as; another answer depends on which noun fits the things described, not just on finding a vaguely related word.

Collocation is therefore a check, not a substitute for comprehension. If two candidates both sound possible beside the gap, the rest of the sentence—or the situation described in the passage—may separate them.

Work through a word-bank cloze

Read this whole passage once for its story. Then follow the explanation beneath it to see how the gaps are resolved.

Word bank: borrow · conduct · despite · doing · heavy · less · make · problem · solve · take

When our school library began opening before classes, many students were pleased. However, the librarian soon noticed a (1) ____: few students knew about the new hours. To (2) ____ this, she put a timetable on the school website. She also asked volunteers to (3) ____ a short survey about how students used the library. The results showed that some wanted to (4) ____ books for the weekend, while others needed a quiet place to study. Several students offered to (5) ____ part in a lunchtime reading group. After one month, morning visits had increased, but afternoon sessions were (6) ____ popular than the morning ones. The librarian did not immediately (7) ____ a decision about changing the timetable; she discussed the figures with teachers first.

The passage begins with a change, introduces a difficulty, describes the librarian’s response, and reports what she learned. That overview is valuable: it tells us, for example, that gap (2) should describe an attempt to deal with the difficulty in gap (1).

Start with grammar where it gives a clear constraint. Gap (1) follows a, so it needs a singular countable noun: problem fits. Gap (3) follows to, so it needs a base-form verb. This rules out doing, even though doing a survey might seem close in meaning. Conduct a survey is a natural, somewhat more formal pairing, so conduct fits both grammar and usage.

Other gaps are best solved by looking at a whole expression. Students can take part in a reading group, making take the answer to (5). The librarian can make a decision, making make the answer to (7). In both cases, choosing by the verb’s general meaning alone would be less reliable than reading the words together.

Now return to meaning. The librarian posts a timetable to solve the problem, so solve fits (2). Students want to borrow books for the weekend, so borrow fits (4). The contrast in the final part of the passage tells us afternoon sessions were less popular than morning ones; less ... than also forms the required comparison at (6).

The answers are:

The unused words are despite, doing, and heavy. Do not decide that an answer is correct just because these are left over. Instead, read the completed passage from beginning to end. Every sentence should be grammatical, each word should suit the account of the library, and the word partnerships should sound natural.

Use a consistent checking routine

In a timed reading task, you need a method that is careful without being slow. Make one quick pass for the passage’s main idea. Then, for each gap, read at least the whole sentence, predict the type of word or meaning needed, and test the bank’s candidates. If two survive, read the preceding or following sentence as well. Finally, reread the completed passage and check the bank’s rules about unused words and word forms.

Keep the three checks distinct. “It is a verb” establishes grammatical fit, but not that the verb means the right thing. “It means something similar” establishes possible meaning, but not that it belongs in a phrase such as make a decision. A strong answer passes all three.

When reviewing an error, record the complete phrase or sentence—conduct a survey, for example—rather than only the isolated answer conduct. That gives you something useful to recognise in later reading and to use in your own writing.

Key takeaways

For a word-bank cloze, begin with the passage’s overall meaning, then test each candidate against grammar, meaning, and collocation. Use words on both sides of a gap, and reread the complete text before settling on your answers. The word bank’s remaining choices are a final check, not a replacement for evidence from the passage.

Next, the course moves from reading to listening: you will practise identifying a recording’s main idea and the details that support it.