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AhaSlides Missing Letters in preview: the presenter screen shows the word with three gaps and a timer, while a participant's phone has dragged letters into the gaps
Missing Letters is a scored quiz slide that shows a word with some letters taken out. Players drag the missing letters into the gaps on their phones, and the fastest correct answers score the most. It works well for spelling and vocabulary practice, a language class or a quick warm-up game. Missing Letters is available now. It is coming to the EU region later.

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Missing Letters at a glance

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Create a Missing Letters slide

AhaSlides slide type picker with a search for Missing Letters and the Missing Letters quiz slide type highlighted
1

Add the slide

In the editor, click New slide, then search for Missing Letters or find it in the Quiz group. A leaderboard slide is added after it, so players see the scores once the question closes.
2

Write the clue

Type a clue into Your question in the right panel, for example “The largest animal that lives on land”. You can also add a picture or a sound as the clue.
3

Type the answer

Enter the answer under Word or phrase, for example “Elephant”. Capital letters and accents don’t affect marking.
4

Choose the hidden letters

Under Hidden letters, select a letter to hide it or show it again. Some letters are hidden for you to start with, and at least one must stay hidden. Spaces, numbers and punctuation always stay on show.
5

Set the extra wrong letters

Extra wrong letters adds letters that are not in the answer to the tiles players choose from, which makes the puzzle harder. Set 0 for an easy round.
AhaSlides Missing Letters editor panel with Elephant as the word, three letters hidden and four extra wrong letters

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Present a Missing Letters slide

Click Preview to try it as a player first, then Present. Participants join with the access code on screen, and you click Start to open the question. On each phone, players see the clue, the word with its gaps, and a tray of letter tiles. They drag or tap a tile into each gap, tap a filled gap to take a letter out again, then tap Submit. Each player submits once. The answer only scores if every gap is right, and the phone then shows how many letters they placed correctly. On your screen, the word with its gaps stays up while the timer runs, with a live count of how many people have solved it. When the question closes, the full word is revealed and the scores go to the leaderboard.

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Missing Letters settings

The leaderboard and the other scoring controls work as on every quiz slide: see quiz settings.

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Ideas for using Missing Letters

  • Spelling check: hide the tricky letters in words such as “necessary” or “rhythm”.
  • Vocabulary: give a definition as the clue, for example “A place where books are kept” for “Library”.
  • Picture clue: add a photo of an apple, a bicycle or a clock and hide half the letters.
  • Language class: give the clue in one language and the answer in the language being learnt.
  • Warm-up: start a meeting or lesson with one quick word to get everyone on their phones.

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Frequently asked questions

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Do players have to type?

No. Players only move letter tiles into the gaps, so nobody has to type on their phone.

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What if a player gets one letter wrong?

The answer scores 0 for that question. Every gap must be right to earn points.

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Does it work with languages other than English?

Yes. The extra wrong letters come from the same alphabet as your word, so a word in another script gets tiles in that script.

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Should I use Missing Letters, Fill in the Blanks or Short Answer?

Missing Letters hides letters inside one word. To hide whole words in a sentence, use Fill in the Blanks or Drag and Drop. To have players type the full answer with no hints, use Short Answer. Have a question? Contact our support team: if you’re logged in, use the chat bubble in the bottom-right of your dashboard; otherwise contact us here or email hi@ahaslides.com. Want to connect with other users? Join the AhaSlides community to share tips, request features, and see how others engage their audiences.