A cloze flashcard hides a specific word or phrase inside a sentence so you have to recall it from memory. The single most useful rule is to delete one fact at a time and review those cards on a spaced schedule rather than all at once. The steps below cover exactly how to build and study them in Anki.
TL;DR:
- Anki includes its own Cloze note type, so no extra software is needed; each distinct cloze number creates a separate card.
- Flashcard experiments found spacing outperformed cramming for about 90% of participants; review for 10 to 15 minutes daily instead of cramming weekly.
- For exam preparation, combine short breaks within study sessions with roughly 24 hours between reviews; a classroom trial found modest attainment gains.
- Changing a Cloze note back to Basic strips its markup, so copy the raw text first if you may want to restore the deletions.
Table of Contents
- What a cloze card is and why it helps you remember
- Creating cloze deletion cards in Anki step by step
- Writing cloze deletions that actually work
- Scheduling and grading your cloze reviews
- Advanced tips for scaling your cloze workflow
- How AtListen supports quick, research-aligned cloze creation
- Editing, merging, and managing cloze notes in Anki
- Troubleshooting common cloze card problems
- Examples of effective cloze cards across subjects
- A short note on keeping your cloze deck sustainable
- Try AtListen to turn lectures and notes into cloze-ready flashcards
- FAQ
- Sources
What a cloze card is and why it helps you remember
A cloze deletion card takes a full sentence or fact and blanks out part of it, leaving you to fill the gap from memory instead of recognizing an answer among choices. Language learners use it for vocabulary in context, medical and law students use it for sequences and definitions, and anyone memorizing dates, formulas, or lists can apply the same structure. The technique works because it forces retrieval practice: your brain has to reconstruct the answer, not just recognize it, and the back of the card gives you the feedback needed to correct a wrong guess. Fill-in-the-gap testing supports long-term retention in real classroom settings, and that same research found feedback during testing is what makes the method work, not the blanking alone.
Creating cloze deletion cards in Anki step by step
Anki ships with a built-in Cloze note type, so you do not need to install anything extra to start.
- Open Anki, click Add, and change the note type dropdown to Cloze.
- Type your sentence into the Text field, highlight the word or phrase to hide, and press Ctrl+Shift+C (or Cmd+Shift+C on Mac) to wrap it in cloze markup automatically.
- Repeat the highlight-and-shortcut step for additional facts in the same sentence, and Anki will number them
{{c1::...}},{{c2::...}}, and so on. - Use the Extra field for context, a mnemonic, or a short explanation that appears only after you reveal the answer.
- Click Add to save the note. Anki automatically generates one card per cloze number, so a sentence with three deletions becomes three separate review cards.
If you already have a Basic note you want to convert, open the note, change its note type to Cloze from the Fields menu, and manually wrap the target text with {{c1::...}} before saving.
On mobile, AnkiMobile and AnkiDroid sync the same cloze markup, though adding the double curly braces by hand is more common since the keyboard shortcut does not always carry over. Reveal behavior stays identical across platforms: tapping or clicking shows every cloze in the sentence except the one being tested.
Pro Tip: Use {{c1::term::hint}} to add a short hint inside the blank itself when a bare cloze is ambiguous.
Writing cloze deletions that actually work
The biggest mistake in cloze creation is burying several facts in one sentence, which makes the card slow to answer and hard to grade honestly.
- Keep each cloze atomic: one fact, one blank, one clear answer.
- Include just enough surrounding context to make the deleted word unambiguous, not a full paragraph.
- Avoid clozing three or four items in a single sentence unless each number tests an independent fact.
- Watch for overlap between sibling cards from the same sentence, since near-duplicate phrasing wastes review time.
- For diagrams, maps, or anatomy, use image occlusion instead of describing the image in text, since masking labels directly on the picture tests the same recall more efficiently.
A weak cloze reads: "The {{c1::mitochondria::organelle}} is the {{c2::powerhouse::function}} of the {{c3::cell::structure}}," which crams three vague blanks into one sentence. A strong version splits the ideas: "The mitochondria is the {{c1::powerhouse}} of the cell" as one card, with a second card testing a different fact entirely.
Pro Tip: If you can't write a one-sentence answer key for a cloze without checking your source, the deletion is probably too broad.
Scheduling and grading your cloze reviews
Short, frequent sessions beat long cramming sessions for the same material. Spacing study sessions outperformed massing for about 90% of participants in flashcard experiments, even though many of those same participants believed cramming had worked better right after they finished.
- Review in short daily blocks of 10 to 15 minutes rather than one long weekly session.
- Grade honestly against the full answer shown in the Extra field, not just a vague sense of familiarity.
- Cap new cards per day (10 to 15 is a reasonable start) and let Anki bury sibling clozes from the same note until the next session.
- For exam prep, combine short within-session breaks with roughly 24 hours between review sessions, a pattern tested in a classroom spacing trial that showed modest but measurable attainment gains.
A simple four-week exam schedule might add 10 new atomic cloze cards most days, review due cards every morning, and rely on Anki's built-in scheduler to push well-known cards further out automatically.
Advanced tips for scaling your cloze workflow
Once you are comfortable with the basics, a few habits keep large decks manageable.
- Standardize a field template (Text, Extra, Source, Tag) so every new note follows the same structure.
- Explore bulk-import workflows using CSV or Markdown files when converting large amounts of reading into cards at once.
- Use image occlusion add-ons for diagram-heavy subjects instead of retyping labels as text clozes.
- Suspend or prune cards that consistently feel too easy, and tag decks by unit so outdated material is easy to find and revise.
How AtListen supports quick, research-aligned cloze creation
Turning a lecture recording or a dense PDF into atomic facts takes time, and that step often stalls a cloze workflow before it starts. This platform converts lectures, textbooks, and notes into structured study material, including key facts and definitions broken into the kind of single-idea statements that translate directly into one-fact-per-card clozes. Depth control lets you choose how granular those facts are, and instant feedback on generated questions mirrors the same answer-checking step that makes cloze review effective. Outputs are easy to copy into Anki's Text and Extra fields, and there are blog posts with copyable templates for vocabulary flashcards that can be adapted for your own deck.
Editing, merging, and managing cloze notes in Anki
Open the Browse window and search by tag, deck, or text to locate the note you want to change. Editing a cloze note updates every card generated from it at once, so fixing a typo in the Text field fixes all of its numbered cloze cards simultaneously.
To delete a single card without losing the whole note, right-click it in the card list and choose Delete, which removes that specific cloze number but leaves siblings intact if you deleted the markup for just one {{c#::...}} span. Deleting the entire note from Browse removes every card tied to it.
Merging near-duplicate notes usually means manually combining two overlapping sentences into one cleaner cloze and deleting the redundant original, since Anki has no automatic merge function. When you find a fact split across two clozes that test almost the same thing, rewrite one note to cover both and remove the other.
If you need to renumber clozes (say, c2 should become c1), edit the text directly and change the number inside the double colons; Anki regenerates the correct cards the next time you sync or open the deck. Changing a note's type back to Basic is possible through the Fields menu but strips the cloze markup, so copy the raw text somewhere safe first if you might want it back in cloze form later.
Troubleshooting common cloze card problems
If a cloze card shows no blank at all, check that the markup uses double colons and double curly braces exactly: {{c1::answer}}, not single braces or a missing colon. A stray space or an extra closing brace is usually the cause.
When multiple clozes in one note all show up as separate cards but you only wanted one, remember that Anki creates a new card for every distinct cloze number by design. Use the same number (c1) for every blank you want tested together on a single card, and increment only when you want a new sibling card.
If sync shows a note on desktop but not on your phone, force a manual sync from the gear menu on both devices, and check that you are signed into the same AnkiWeb account on each.
A card that always reveals the entire sentence instead of hiding the blank usually means the Cloze note type was swapped for Basic at some point. Reopen the note in Browse and confirm the note type listed at the top matches Cloze.
Finally, if grading feels inconsistent, the deletion itself may be too vague. Add a short hint inside the cloze syntax ({{c1::term::hint}}) or tighten the surrounding sentence so the expected answer is unambiguous before you grade yourself again.
Examples of effective cloze cards across subjects
A history card might read: "The Treaty of Westphalia was signed in {{c1::1648}}, ending the Thirty Years' War." One date, one blank, no ambiguity.
For language learning: "Je {{c1::vais}} au marché tous les samedis" tests a single verb conjugation in context rather than an isolated word with no grammatical cue.
In biology: "DNA replication requires the enzyme {{c1::helicase}} to unwind the double helix before synthesis begins" isolates one enzyme's function instead of asking about the whole replication process at once.
A chemistry example: "The pH of a neutral solution at 25°C is {{c1::7}}" pairs a precise number with just enough context to anchor it.
Each of these works because the sentence carries exactly one testable fact and enough surrounding detail to make the blank unambiguous without giving away the answer.
A short note on keeping your cloze deck sustainable
Small daily reviews beat occasional marathon sessions, especially across a full semester. Tie your cloze creation to active reading or lecture notes as you take them, not as a separate task you save for exam week.
— William
Try AtListen to turn lectures and notes into cloze-ready flashcards
If writing atomic facts from scratch is the slowest part of your cloze workflow, we can shorten it. Upload a lecture recording, a PDF, or a set of notes to AtListen and get structured key facts and definitions back in minutes, ready to copy into Anki's cloze fields. Start on the Free plan to see the output format, and move to Pro at $19.99 per month or Max at $39.99 per month at Atlisten when you need higher usage limits.
FAQ
What are cloze cards in Anki?
Cloze cards in Anki are notes built with the Cloze note type, where you hide one or more words inside a sentence using {{c1::...}} markup and Anki generates a separate review card for each numbered deletion. They differ from Basic cards, which show a fixed question on the front and a fixed answer on the back.
Is 1,000 Anki cards a day a lot?
Yes, a very high number of reviews in a single day is a heavy load for most learners and well above the 10 to 15 new atomic cards per day often recommended to keep review sessions sustainable. A high daily count usually signals it is time to lower your new-card limit or catch up gradually rather than add more material.
How do I change the card type in Anki?
Open the note in the Browse window, click the Fields button near the note type name, and select a different note type such as Cloze or Basic from the list. Anki will prompt you to map old fields to new ones before saving the change.
How do I add notes to Anki cards?
Click Add in the main Anki window, choose the note type you want (Cloze or Basic, for example), fill in the Text or Front and Back fields, and click Add again to save the note into your chosen deck. Each saved note generates one or more cards automatically depending on its note type.
Sources
- Spacing and massing in flashcard learning — Kornell 2009
- Retrieval practice enhances learning in real primary school settings, whether distributed or not — Frontiers 2025
- Cloze test — Wikipedia