IELTS Sentence Completion Practice Questions

Quick answer

Complete each sentence with words copied exactly from the passage, within the word limit. The finished sentence must be grammatical — that is your built-in check that you found the right words.

Sentence Completion asks you to finish statements with exact words from the passage. The questions normally follow text order, so careful prediction and scanning turn this into a dependable source of marks.

Updated August 2026

What do Sentence Completion questions test?

It tests precise detail, vocabulary paraphrase recognition and whether you can select words that fit both the passage meaning and the sentence grammar.

How do you answer Sentence Completion questions?

1Circle the word limit before reading anything else.
2Predict the missing word class: noun, verb, adjective, number or short phrase.
3Scan in question order for a paraphrase of the sentence.
4Copy only the necessary passage words, then read the completed sentence for grammar and meaning.

What are the common traps to avoid?

Exceeding the word limit.
Copying nearby words that do not fit grammatically.
Changing a passage word unnecessarily.
Missing plural endings, units or hyphens.

How long should you spend on them?

Aim for about 45–60 seconds each. Use the ordered questions to keep moving forward through the passage rather than rescanning from the top.

Practise Sentence Completion passages

#	Title	Difficulty	Action
1	A History of the World in Board Games	medium	Practise
2	Finding the Way Across the Pacific	medium	Practise
3	Hillcrest Leisure Centre: Notices for Members	easy	Practise
4	How Painters Learned to Show Depth: The Invention of Perspective	hard	Practise
5	Joining Brightpath Couriers: Job Advert and Induction	medium	Practise
6	Reclaiming the Zuiderzee: How the Dutch Turned Sea into Land	hard	Practise
7	The Birth of Nicaraguan Sign Language	hard	Practise
8	The Bystander Effect: Why Crowds Can Fail to Help	easy	Practise
9	The Commons and How to Manage Them	hard	Practise
10	The Global Spread of the Chilli	medium	Practise
11	The Long Search for Water on Mars	hard	Practise
12	The Science of Waiting in Line	medium	Practise
13	Working at Fairfield Foods: Conduct and Overtime	medium	Practise

Practise other reading question types

True / False / Not Given Yes / No / Not Given Matching Headings Matching Information Matching Features Multiple Choice Short Answer Summary Completion Note Completion Table Completion Flow-Chart Completion Diagram Label Completion Plan / Map Labelling Matching Sentence Endings Multiple Choice — Multiple Answers All reading passages