Cloze Deletion Flashcards: A Complete Guide

What "cloze deletion" means

"Cloze" comes from a reading comprehension test developed by Wilson Taylor in the 1950s, in which words are removed from a passage and the reader fills them in. The name refers to the idea of "closure" — completing a pattern.

In flashcards, a cloze deletion is a sentence with one key part hidden:

• Front: "The powerhouse of the cell is the [...]."
• Back: "The powerhouse of the cell is the mitochondrion."

The sentence gives you context, so you're recalling the fact in the setting where it's meaningful, not as an isolated word.

When cloze cards work best

Cloze is a good fit for:

• Facts that only make sense in a sentence: "The Magna Carta was sealed in {{c1::1215}}."
• Definitions: "{{c1::Osmosis}} is the movement of water across a semi-permeable membrane from low to high solute concentration."
• Formulas and relationships: "Force equals {{c1::mass}} times {{c2::acceleration}}."
• Grammar and language patterns: "Je {{c1::suis}} étudiant." (French, "I am a student")
• Lists you need to know in order, one blank per item.
• Code syntax, legal clauses, medication doses — anything where the exact word matters.

It's less suited to questions that need an explanation as the answer, or to vocabulary where you want a clean word-to-meaning prompt; a basic or reverse card is clearer there.

The {{c1::...}} syntax

We use the same syntax as Anki, so cards move between the two without changes. Put double curly braces around the text you want hidden, starting with c and a number:

• {{c1::text}} hides "text".
• {{c1::text::hint}} hides "text" and shows "hint" in the blank, e.g. {{c1::Canberra::city}}.

The number decides how many cards you get:

• Different numbers make separate cards. "{{c1::Water}} boils at {{c2::100 °C}} at sea level." makes two cards — one hides "Water", the other hides "100 °C".
• The same number hides together. "The two chambers of the US Congress are the {{c1::Senate}} and the {{c1::House of Representatives}}." makes one card with both blanks.

On each card, the other numbered parts stay visible as context.

See the cloze flashcard maker to try it.

Rule 1: Hide the important part

Hide the word or phrase that carries the meaning. "{{c1::The}} French Revolution began in 1789" tests nothing useful. "The French Revolution began in {{c1::1789}}" tests the date. "The {{c1::French}} Revolution began in 1789" tests which revolution — useful if you're mixing up revolutions.

Before you add a blank, ask: if I couldn't recall this word, would it matter?

Rule 2: Make sure only one answer fits

"The capital of Australia is a {{c1::city}}" — true, but not what you meant to test. Ambiguous blanks lead to arguments with yourself about whether your answer counts.

Add context until only one answer fits, or use a hint: "{{c1::Canberra::capital city}} is in the Australian Capital Territory." Hints are also useful for numbers — "{{c1::1789::year}}" — so you know what kind of answer is expected.

Rule 3: Keep sentences short

It's tempting to paste a whole paragraph from your notes and add five blanks. The result is five cards that each make you read a paragraph, and the visible text often gives the hidden part away.

Trim to one sentence, or even half a sentence, that contains the fact and just enough context. If a paragraph has several important facts, make several short sentences.

Rule 4: Don't over-delete

Hiding too much turns recall into guessing. "{{c1::Photosynthesis}} converts {{c1::light energy}} into {{c1::chemical energy}} stored in {{c1::glucose}}" with all four hidden on one card leaves almost nothing to recall from. Either split into separate numbers (c1, c2, c3, c4), or rewrite as several cards.

The exception is lists or pairs that really belong together, like the two houses of Congress above.

Rule 5: Beware of cues that give it away

Grammar can leak the answer: "an {{c1::apple}}" hints at a vowel; "the {{c1::Alps}} are" hints at a plural. Sometimes that's fine. If you notice you're answering from the grammar rather than from memory, rephrase.

The same goes for surrounding words that only fit one answer, like a unit ("{{c1::9.8}} m/s²") that makes the number guessable. Decide whether that cue is something you'll have in the exam too.

Making cloze cards from notes quickly

Writing cloze cards by hand is fast, but you can also let Smart import suggest them. Paste your notes (or open a PDF or Word file) and it can propose cloze cards from sentences that contain numbers, dates, and names. Keep the ones that test something you need, delete the rest, and edit the blanks if they're in the wrong place.

This works especially well for history (dates, people, places), pharmacology (doses), and science (constants and values).

Studying and exporting cloze cards

Cloze cards work with spaced repetition review here, and they can be printed as paper cards. When you export to Anki .apkg, they become Anki cloze notes with the numbering and hints intact. Anki decks that contain cloze notes also import here as cloze cards.

Cloze vs basic cards: a quick test

If you're unsure which type to use, try writing the fact as a question. If a natural question comes easily — "What year did the Berlin Wall fall?" — a basic card is fine and often clearer. If the question feels forced, or the fact depends on the wording around it — "A contract requires offer, acceptance, and consideration" — use cloze.

Many decks end up mixing both, which is fine. Use whichever makes the prompt clearest for that particular fact.