Cloze Passage Summer - ESL English - Free Printable

Let's solve the Cloze Passage titled *"At The Zoo"* step by step. We’ll fill in the blanks using the words provided in the word bank:

Word Bank:

- on
- fish
- peacock
- Turtles
- hooves
- fly
- doctor
- perform
- dolphins
- work
- fun
- zoo
- swim
- water
- Sea lions
- and
- giraffe
- feathers
- animals
- humps

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Original Passage with Blanks:

> My parents ________ I went to the ________ yesterday. It was ________! We saw many ________. There are tigers, elephants and ________ too. The dolphins like to ________. The penguins can swim, but they cannot ________. They ________ like to eat ________ for their meals. They can ________ tricks too! The long-necked ________, the zebra and the horse have ________. The camel has two ________ and the ________ has beautiful ________. ________ live in ________ and also ________ land. Someday, I want to be an animal ________ so I can ________ at the zoo!

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Now let’s go through each blank and choose the best word from the word bank.

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1. My parents ________ I went to the ________ yesterday.

- "My parents and I" — this is a common phrase.
- "I went to the zoo" — fits context.

✔ So: and, zoo

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2. It was ________!

- "It was fun!" — makes sense emotionally.

✔ fun

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3. We saw many ________.

- "We saw many animals." — general term that fits all creatures mentioned.

✔ animals

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4. There are tigers, elephants and ________ too.

- Looking at the list, Sea lions are mentioned as an animal not yet listed.
- But wait: "Sea lions" is plural and could fit. However, note that "dolphins" and "penguins" are already discussed later.

But we need one more animal. Let's see what's left.

Wait — peacock is listed. But "peacock" is singular. Could it be?

Actually, the sentence says “tigers, elephants and ________ too.” — likely expecting another animal.

But look: dolphins and penguins are already mentioned later, so maybe not.

Wait — perhaps it's Turtles? But "Turtles" is capitalized — maybe it's meant to be used as a noun.

Alternatively, consider: giraffe — but again, singular.

But the word "and" is already used earlier, so it might be used here.

Wait — no, the blank is just one word.

Let’s skip for now and come back.

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5. The dolphins like to ________.

- Dolphins like to swim — very logical.

✔ swim

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6. The penguins can swim, but they cannot ________.

- Penguins cannot fly — classic fact.

✔ fly

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7. They ________ like to eat ________ for their meals.

- "They like to eat..." — yes, subject is "they" (penguins), so verb should be like.

- What do penguins eat? Fish — correct.

✔ like, fish

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8. They can ________ tricks too!

- "Can perform tricks" — yes, especially sea lions or dolphins.

So this must be referring to Sea lions or dolphins.

But earlier, we said dolphins like to swim. Now, "they" refers to penguins? That doesn’t make sense.

Wait — the sentence is: "They can ________ tricks too!"

Who is "they"? The previous sentence is about penguins: “They like to eat fish…”

So “they” = penguins.

But penguins don't typically *perform* tricks in the wild — unless in a zoo show.

But the passage is about the zoo, so it's possible.

But then why would the next sentence say “The long-necked ________…”?

Wait — perhaps “they” refers to Sea lions?

But the sentence before that is about penguins.

Hmm.

Wait — maybe there’s a misalignment.

Let’s re-read:

> The penguins can swim, but they cannot fly. They like to eat fish for their meals. They can ________ tricks too!

So “they” = penguins → penguins can perform tricks? Possible in zoos.

Yes — some penguins are trained. So perform works.

✔ perform

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9. The long-necked ________, the zebra and the horse have ________.

- Long-necked animal → giraffe
- Giraffe, zebra, horse — all have hooves

✔ giraffe, hooves

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10. The camel has two ________ and the ________ has beautiful ________.

- Camel has two humps
- Then: “the ________ has beautiful ________”

What animal has beautiful feathers? → peacock

And peacock is in the word bank.

So: peacock has beautiful feathers

✔ humps, peacock, feathers

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11. ________ live in ________ and also ________ land.

- Who lives in water and land? → Turtles or Sea lions?

But “Turtles” is capitalized — probably intended as a noun.

But “Turtles” is plural. And “Sea lions” is also plural.

But look: “live in ________ and also ________ land.”

“in water and also on land” — that’s a common phrase.

So: Turtles live in water and also on land.

Perfect.

So: Turtles, water, on

✔

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12. Someday, I want to be an animal ________ so I can ________ at the zoo!

- “animal ________” → likely doctor? Or worker?

But “animal doctor” is a thing — like a veterinarian.

Also, “so I can work at the zoo!”

Yes — “I want to be an animal doctor so I can work at the zoo.”

That makes sense.

Alternatives: “animal worker” — not standard.

“Animal performer”? No — not in word bank.

Only doctor and work are left.

So: doctor, work

✔

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Now, let’s go back to the missing one:

Earlier, we had:

> There are tigers, elephants and ________ too.

We skipped this.

What animal is missing?

We’ve used:

- animals ✔
- zoo ✔
- fun ✔
- and ✔
- swim ✔
- fly ✔
- like ✔
- fish ✔
- perform ✔
- giraffe ✔
- hooves ✔
- humps ✔
- peacock ✔
- feathers ✔
- Turtles ✔
- water ✔
- on ✔
- doctor ✔
- work ✔

Leftover words: dolphins, Sea lions

But we haven’t used dolphins or Sea lions yet.

Wait — we used dolphins in:

> The dolphins like to swim.

So dolphins is used.

But in the sentence: “There are tigers, elephants and ________ too.”

We need an animal that hasn’t been mentioned yet.

Animals mentioned:

- tigers
- elephants
- dolphins
- penguins
- giraffe
- zebra
- horse
- camel
- peacock
- turtles
- sea lions?

Wait — Sea lions isn’t used yet.

But “Sea lions” is plural.

But the sentence is: “tigers, elephants and ________ too.”

Could be Sea lions.

But is it grammatically okay?

Yes: “tigers, elephants, and sea lions” — fine.

But “Sea lions” is capitalized — maybe intentional.

Alternatively, could it be dolphins? But we already mentioned dolphins in the next sentence.

But that’s okay — repetition is allowed.

But the word dolphins is already used in the next sentence.

But in the word bank, both dolphins and Sea lions are present.

But if we use dolphins here, then “dolphins” appears twice — once in the list, once in the sentence.

But the word bank allows reuse? Usually in cloze passages, you use each word only once.

Let’s check how many times we used each word.

List of words used:

- and ✔
- zoo ✔
- fun ✔
- animals ✔
- dolphins ✔ (in “The dolphins like to swim”)
- swim ✔
- fly ✔
- like ✔
- fish ✔
- perform ✔
- giraffe ✔
- hooves ✔
- humps ✔
- peacock ✔
- feathers ✔
- Turtles ✔
- water ✔
- on ✔
- doctor ✔
- work ✔

Left: Sea lions

But “Sea lions” is one word — but it's two words.

Wait — in the word bank: “Sea lions” — written as two words.

But in the sentence: “tigers, elephants and ________ too.”

If we put “Sea lions”, it would be: “...elephants and Sea lions too.” — acceptable.

But is “Sea lions” the only unused word?

Wait — we didn’t use dolphins in the list — we used it in the sentence.

But we used dolphins in the sentence: “The dolphins like to swim.”

So it's used.

But in the list: “There are tigers, elephants and ________ too.” — this is listing animals seen.

So we could use Sea lions here.

But then we haven’t used dolphins in the list — but it’s used in the sentence.

But the word dolphins is used — so it's fine.

But Sea lions is still unused.

Wait — we haven’t used Sea lions anywhere.

So the only unused word is Sea lions.

Therefore, the blank must be Sea lions.

But is it grammatically correct?

“...tigers, elephants and Sea lions too.” — yes, it’s okay.

But note: “Sea lions” is capitalized — maybe it’s a proper name.

Alternatively, could it be peacock? But we used peacock later.

No — peacock is used.

Wait — did we use dolphins in the list?

No — we used it in the sentence.

But the word dolphins is used.

But the sentence is: “There are tigers, elephants and ________ too.”

We could use dolphins here — but then it’s repeated.

But if we use Sea lions, it’s not used elsewhere.

So better to use Sea lions here.

But wait — in the sentence: “The dolphins like to swim.” — that’s after.

So the list comes first — so animals seen include tigers, elephants, and Sea lions.

Then later, we talk about dolphins.

That’s fine.

So Sea lions is the best choice.

But the word is “Sea lions” — two words.

But in the blank, it’s one blank — so perhaps it’s meant to be filled as one unit.

Yes — in cloze passages, multi-word phrases are sometimes treated as single units.

So we can fill “Sea lions”.

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But wait — is there any other possibility?

What about Turtles? We used them later.

But Turtles is capitalized — and used later.

So not available.

So only Sea lions is unused.

Thus, the blank must be Sea lions.

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Now let’s write the full completed passage:

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> My parents and I went to the zoo yesterday. It was fun! We saw many animals. There are tigers, elephants and Sea lions too. The dolphins like to swim. The penguins can swim, but they cannot fly. They like to eat fish for their meals. They can perform tricks too! The long-necked giraffe, the zebra and the horse have hooves. The camel has two humps and the peacock has beautiful feathers. Turtles live in water and also on land. Someday, I want to be an animal doctor so I can work at the zoo!

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Final Answer:

Fills:

1. and
2. zoo
3. fun
4. animals
5. Sea lions
6. swim
7. fly
8. like
9. fish
10. perform
11. giraffe
12. hooves
13. humps
14. peacock
15. feathers
16. Turtles
17. water
18. on
19. doctor
20. work

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✔ All words used exactly once (except "and", "like", etc., which may be reused — but in this case, all are used once).

Wait — “and” is used twice: once in “parents and I”, and possibly in “water and also on land” — but “and” is used only once in the blanks.

In the passage: “water and also on land” — the “and” is part of the sentence.

But in the word bank, “and” is listed — and we used it once: in “parents and I”.

Is “and” used again?

Yes — in “water and also on land” — but that “and” is not a blank.

So only one blank uses “and”.

Similarly, “like” is used in “They like to eat” — one use.

So all words are used appropriately.

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Final Completed Passage:

> My parents and I went to the zoo yesterday. It was fun! We saw many animals. There are tigers, elephants and Sea lions too. The dolphins like to swim. The penguins can swim, but they cannot fly. They like to eat fish for their meals. They can perform tricks too! The long-necked giraffe, the zebra and the horse have hooves. The camel has two humps and the peacock has beautiful feathers. Turtles live in water and also on land. Someday, I want to be an animal doctor so I can work at the zoo!

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✔ This fills all blanks correctly using the word bank.