TOEFL Complete the Words (2026): format, tips and an example

By the Suzu team · Updated November 1, 2026 · 1 min read · Facts from ETS

Quick answer

You read a short academic paragraph of about 70–100 words. The first sentence is complete. After that, 10 words are missing their second half, and you type the missing letters.

10words to finish
70–100words in the paragraph
1stsentence left whole

The first sentence gives you the topic. After it, every second word loses its second half.

How to do it well

Read the whole paragraph firstThe topic and the words after a gap often tell you the missing word.
Count the blanksEach blank is one missing letter, so the length narrows your choice.
Check the grammarPlural, past tense or a small word like “from”? The sentence decides.

Example

A shortened example

Bees help many flowering plants make seeds. When be__ visit flo____, they ca___ pollen fr__ one pl___ to ano____. This he___ the pla___ form se___ and fr___.

Answer

When bees visit flowers, they carry pollen from one plant to another. This helps the plants form seeds and fruit.

Our own example, written to match ETS's format. It isn't an official test question.

Common mistakes

Ignoring the blank count. “fr__” with two blanks is “from”, not “fruit”.
Dropping word endings. Watch for plural -s and past -ed.
Spelling slips. A word is only right if every letter is.

What ETS looks for

It's the biggest part of the Reading section, which has about 50 questions in about 30 minutes.
The paragraphs are academic, on topics like science and history, and need no special knowledge.
Each word is marked right or wrong.

Source: ETS's content and structure page and Updated TOEFL iBT Test Overview.

Questions

How many Complete the Words questions are on the TOEFL?

Each paragraph has 10 missing words. ETS's 2026 test plan makes this task the largest share of the roughly 50 Reading questions.

Do I have to type the whole word?

No. You type only the missing letters. The first half of each word is already there.

Is spelling marked?

Yes. You need the exact letters, so a misspelled answer counts as wrong.

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