Fill the Gap
A sentence with one word missing: pick or type the word that fits. Made for your own sentences: tenses, prepositions, collocations, whatever your student needs this week.
3 free rounds · your own sentences on Starter
Save a set · free to start
Want your own questions on the fill the gap? Type them once, save the set, play it any time on any device.
She has lived here ______ 2019.
Maria chose since · try 1 of 2Playing this with a student?
They fill the gap on their own screen: in a Tuton lesson your student plays on their own screen, not by watching yours.
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Read the whole sentence first
The gap is not solvable from the words either side of it. Make the student read the sentence end to end before choosing — the tense marker or the preposition that decides the answer is often at the other end of the line.
Pick or type the missing word
Choose from the options, or type the word if you want production rather than recognition. Typing is considerably harder and considerably more useful; use it once the student is getting the multiple-choice version right consistently.
Say why, then say it again
Before moving on, ask why that word and not the other one. Then have the student read the completed sentence aloud in full. The reading-back step is what puts the correct form in their mouth rather than only on the screen.
Fill the Gap as a teaching tool
A gap-fill is only as good as the sentences in it
Every course book has gap-fills, and most of them are forgettable because the sentences are about nobody. The exercise becomes worth doing when the sentences are about your student: their job, their city, the trip they keep mentioning, the mistake they made twice last lesson. The same mechanic that feels like homework with generic content feels like a conversation with personal content, and the recall afterwards is not comparable. This is the whole reason this game is built around your own sentences rather than a stock bank.
Choose what the gap tests before you write it
A gap can test three quite different things, and mixing them at random is why gap-fills often feel vague. A grammar gap removes the word that carries the tense, the article or the agreement, and the answer is decidable from the rest of the sentence. A vocabulary gap removes a content word and the answer depends on meaning. A collocation gap removes one half of a fixed pair — "make a decision", "heavy rain" — and the answer depends on what English simply prefers. Decide which of the three a set is for, and write ten of that one kind; a set with a clear target teaches far more than a set with variety.
Distractors are the lesson, not the packaging
In a multiple-choice round, the wrong options do most of the teaching. A distractor that is obviously wrong teaches nothing; one that is the student's own habitual error forces the discrimination you actually want. If your student says "depend of", then "of" belongs in the options next to "on". Writing the distractor list is the part of set-building worth spending time on, and the errors from your own marking are the best source you will ever have.
Groups, levels and the online lesson
With A1 and A2 learners, keep the sentences short and the options to three, and read the sentence aloud yourself before the student chooses — listening support turns a reading test back into a grammar exercise. With B2 and C1, switch to typing and accept any answer that works, then discuss the difference between their word and yours; the near-misses are usually a register lesson. In a group, take a vote on the options before revealing, and ask the minority to argue first. Online, share your screen and have the student read the full completed sentence back to you every time — it is the only part of the activity that guarantees production.
Frequently asked questions
What levels does Fill the Gap work for?
A1 to C1, because the level lives in your sentences rather than in the game. A beginner set might gap the verb "to be"; a C1 set might gap one half of a collocation where three of the four options are grammatically fine and only one is what an English speaker would actually say.
Do I have to pay to use it?
Not to try it. You get three free rounds on this page, with no signup, so you can see how it works. Playing it with your own sentences (writing sets, saving them, and playing unlimited rounds) is part of a Tuton subscription, which starts on the Starter plan. Story Bubbles, Would You Rather and Question Wheel are the games that stay free for good, with no signup to start.
Why is this one on Starter?
Because a gap-fill with somebody else's sentences is not much of an activity. The value here is entirely in it being your sentences, aimed at your student's errors, and that means an account to write and save sets in. Most games on the hub work the same way: three free rounds to try, then Starter. Only Story Bubbles, Would You Rather and Question Wheel stay free and unlimited.
Should I use the multiple-choice or the typing version?
Multiple choice tests recognition and is the right starting point; typing tests production and is considerably harder. Move to typing once the student is getting the options right consistently, because that is the point at which multiple choice stops telling you anything you did not already know.
What makes a good gap-fill sentence?
One gap, one defensible answer, and enough context around the gap that the answer is decidable without guessing. If two different words would both be correct, either accept both deliberately or rewrite the sentence. And make the sentence about something real (your student's own job, city or week) because a personal sentence is remembered and a generic one is not.
How do I use it in a live lesson?
Start it from the games panel in the classroom. Your student sees the sentence on their own screen, taps an option or types the missing word (you switch between the two), and then they read the completed sentence back in full. Building the set from the errors in their last piece of writing is what makes the five minutes count.
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They fill the gap on their own screen: live, on both screens
A sentence with a gap shows on both screens. Your student taps an option or types the answer, and you switch between the two modes. They get two tries, then the answer is revealed. Your own sentences make the game; this one is on Starter.
No credit card · Your student never pays
She has lived here ______ 2019.
Maria chose since · try 1 of 2Their screen, not yours
Your student joins the lesson on their own laptop, tablet or phone and plays from there. No screen share, no "can you see my tab?", no describing what just happened.
The game isn't the whole lesson
It sits in the same room as your video, your lesson notes, the Space whiteboard and 850+ ready-to-teach lessons, so a warm-up game is two clicks from the work it's warming up.
What came up gets kept
Add a word that comes up and it becomes a flashcard your student keeps practising between lessons, and the post-lesson AI report writes up what you covered.