The TOEFL iBT® has recently updated its Reading section, bringing in new task types that reflect the way people actually read and understand information in everyday and academic settings. One of the most interesting additions is the Complete the Words task. Instead of simply answering questions about a passage, test takers must use clues from the text to figure out the missing parts of words and reconstruct the meaning of the paragraph.

What Is the Complete the Words Task?

The Complete the Words task requires test takers to reconstruct partially deleted words in a short academic-style paragraph of approximately 70–100 words. The first sentence of the paragraph appears in full, providing a clear starting point. After that, the second half of every second word is removed, leaving the test taker to supply the missing letters.

Each passage contains ten incomplete words that must be completed accurately based on meaning, grammar, and word form.

Example of Complete the Words Task Type

Fill in the missing letters in the paragraph.

Archaeologists have found evidence that early societies used simple tools to understand natural events. They deter_ _ _ _ _ that anci _ _ _ communities care_ _ _ _ _ observed t_ _ movement pat_ _ _ _ _ of t_ _ sun a_ _ storms t_ predict sea_ _ _ _ _ changes. Ov _ _ time, these systems became more sophisticated and allowed groups to organize their daily activities. Such knowledge helped communities prepare for harvests, ceremonies, and major social gatherings.

What Skills Does This Task Measure?

Although the task may appear simple at first glance, it assesses a sophisticated combination of abilities:

1. Contextual Understanding

Test takers must infer meaning from surrounding sentences to determine what word logically fits the blank. This skill mirrors real academic reading, where context often clarifies unfamiliar or partially understood vocabulary.

2. Morphological Awareness

Recognizing common prefixes, suffixes, and word roots helps identify the structure of incomplete words.

3. Grammatical Knowledge

Understanding sentence structure allows test takers to determine whether the missing word should be a noun, verb, adjective, or other part of speech.

4. Vocabulary Recognition

Because the passages are academic in nature, a strong familiarity with academic vocabulary is highly beneficial.

General strategy for Complete the Words questions

Step 1 – Read the whole paragraph first

Don’t jump to the blanks. Read from start to finish to understand:

• Topic: What is this about?
• Flow: what is the author trying to explain?

As for the sample question above, the topic is how early societies used tools to understand natural events and organize life.

Step 2 – For each blank, decide the grammatical role of the word

Before you guess the word, ask:

• Is it a verb, noun, adjective, adverb, preposition, or conjunction?
• Does it complete a common phrase (collocation)?

Grammar narrows your choices fast.

Step 3 – Use the visible letters + word length

Look at:

• The letters you can see at the start of the word
• The number of missing letters (the underscores)

Try to think of all reasonable words that match the pattern and fit the grammar.

Step 4 – Check meaning and collocations

Ask:

• Does this word fit the meaning of the sentence?
• Is it a natural combination with the words around it?

If something sounds strange, it’s probably wrong.

Step 5 – Re-read the sentence with your guess

After filling a blank, read the sentence again:

• Does it sound natural?
• Is the grammar correct?
• Does the idea still make sense with the paragraph’s topic?

If yes → keep it.
If no → try another option.

Let’s try to use the strategies to answer the question below.

Archaeologists have found evidence that early societies used simple tools to understand natural events. They deter_ _ _ _ _ that anci _ _ _ communities care_ _ _ _ _ observed t_ _ movement pat_ _ _ _ _ of t_ _ sun a_ _ storms t_ predict sea_ _ _ _ _ changes. Ov _ _ time, these systems became more sophisticated and allowed groups to organize their daily activities. Such knowledge helped communities prepare for harvests, ceremonies, and major social gatherings.

Blank 1: deter_ ____

Step 1 – grammatical role in sentence

“They deter_ ____ that ancient communities…”

We have “They ___ that …”
This structure usually needs a past tense reporting verb: believed, showed, suggested, determined, concluded, etc.

Step 2 – Letters given

• Starts with deter
• Then some missing letters

Common academic verb: determine → past tense determined

Step 3 – Check

“They determined that ancient communities…”

Makes perfect sense and is a very typical academic collocation: “have found evidence… They determined that …”

Answer: determined

Blank 2: anci___

“…that anci___ communities…”

Grammatical role: adjective describing communities → needs something like early, ancient, prehistoric.

Letters: begins with anci
The obvious word is ancient.

“…that ancient communities…”

Answer: ancient

Blank 3: care_____

“…ancient communities care_____ observed the movement…”

We have adverb + verb: carefully observed, closely observed.

Grammatical role: adverb modifying observed.

Letters: care plus several missing letters → carefully fits both the pattern and meaning.

“…communities carefully observed…”

Answer: carefully

Blank 4: t__

“…carefully observed t__ movement patterns…”

Grammatical role: article before a noun phrase → the movement patterns.

Only natural option is the.

Answer: the

Blank 5: pat_____

“…the movement pat_____ of the sun and storms…”

We already have “movement”, so we expect a noun related to it.

Grammatical role: noun following movement → likely patterns.

Letters: begins with pat and has several missing letters → patterns matches.

“…the movement patterns of the sun…”

Answer: patterns

Blank 6: t__ (again)

“…patterns of t__ sun a__ storms…”

Same situation as Blank 4: article before sun.

Answer: the

Blank 7: a__

“…sun a__ storms…”

Grammatical role: conjunction joining sun and storms → and.

Answer: and

Blank 8: t_

“…storms t_ predict…”

Grammatical role: infinitive marker before a verb → to predict.

Answer: to

Blank 9: sea_____

“…storms to predict sea_____ changes.”

Grammatical role: adjective before changes.
Given the topic (natural events, sun, storms), it’s logical to talk about seasonal changes.

Letters: begins with sea → seasonal, seaside, sealing etc. Only seasonal fits the meaning.

“…to predict seasonal changes.”

Answer: seasonal

Blank 10: Ov___

“Ov___ time, these systems became more sophisticated…”

Phrase pattern: Over time is a very common connective meaning gradually.

So the missing word is clearly Over.

Answer: Over

Below is what the completed paragraph looks like.

Putting it all together:

Archaeologists have found evidence that early societies used simple tools to understand natural events. They determined that ancient communities carefully observed the movement patterns of the sun and storms to predict seasonal changes. Over time, these systems became more sophisticated and allowed groups to organize their daily activities. Such knowledge helped communities prepare for harvests, ceremonies, and major social gatherings.