Sentence Matching

Two columns of halves: sentence beginnings and endings, words and meanings, or the two parts of a collocation. Students tap one half, then its partner. Each correct pair joins into a complete sentence and moves into a list, so by the end they have the whole set to read back. Works on phones, laptops and shared screens.

Make a sentence matching activity

Ready-made sentence matching activities

Try one

Match the Times

A2 Play it

Business Collocations

B1 Play it

Agreeing and Disagreeing

B2 Play it

Ideas for using it

  • Pre-teach vocabulary. Match words to their meanings before a reading or listening, so students meet the new words before the text.
  • Collocations and phrasal verbs. Put the verb on one side and the noun or particle on the other. Students notice which words go together, not just what they mean.
  • Functional language. Split phrases for agreeing, giving opinions or making suggestions, then have students use three of them in a short discussion.
  • Grammar in context. Conditionals, "I was going to..., but...", question and answer pairs: matching makes students read for meaning and form at the same time.
  • Match, then discuss. Split discussion questions into halves. Once they're matched, students ask and answer them in pairs.
  • Make it true for you. After matching, students change the second halves so the sentences are true for them.
  • Read it back. The finished list shows every complete sentence. Ask students to read them aloud, or cover the list and recall as many as they can.
  • One-to-one lessons. Share your screen and let your student tell you which halves go together, explaining why as they go.

How it works

  1. Open the activity, or send the link to your students.
  2. Tap a half in either column, then tap its partner in the other column.
  3. A correct pair joins up and moves into the Matched list. A wrong pair gives a little shake, so students can try again.
  4. When every pair is matched, students see "All done!" and can start again.

Bigger text makes everything easier to read on a projector or shared screen. Start again shuffles the halves for another go.

Tips for good pairs

  • 6 to 10 pairs work best. Fewer is too easy to guess; more gets slow on a phone.
  • One right answer each. Check that no ending could also fit a different beginning, or students will get stuck on a correct-sounding pair that isn't accepted.
  • Split at a natural point, for example after a comma or before the object. Each half can be up to 50 characters.
  • Words and meanings: put the word on the left and the meaning on the right. The player spots these sets and shows the finished pairs as word and meaning.
  • Use the instructions box to tell students what to do after matching. Line breaks are kept, so you can number the steps.

Make your own

Type up to ten pairs, or paste them in all at once. Add a title and instructions, create the activity and share the link with your students.

Make a sentence matching activity

More in our collections

Sentence matching activities appear in many of our grammar, vocabulary and business collections, alongside other activities on the same topic.

Present Simple · Future Forms · Conditionals · Passive Voice · Adjectives and Adverbs · Prepositions · Phrasal Verbs · Collocations and Binomials · Discourse Markers · Numbers, Dates and Time · Business Functional Language · Business Idioms and Expressions · Halloween · Christmas and New Year · Valentine's Day · All collections

Ready-made sentence matching activities

Speaking and opinions

Agreeing and Disagreeing · Giving Opinions · Giving Opinions 2 · Jargon Decoder: Reformulating Markers · Conspiracy Theories · Superstitions

Grammar

Present Simple: to be · Zero Conditional: Feelings · I was going to..., but... · In the Morning · In the Afternoon · In the Evening · Match the Times

Vocabulary and phrases

Business Collocations · Binomials · Animal Phrases · Strong Adjectives · Expressions for Valentine's Day · Christmas Cracker Jokes

From our lesson plans

Pre-teach vocabulary sets that go with our reading lessons, at two levels.

  • Adidas vs Puma: B1 · B2
  • Bruce Lee: A2 · B2
  • Ferrari vs Lamborghini: B1 · B2
  • Keanu Reeves: A2 · B2
  • Man City: A2 · B2
  • Nvidia: B1 · B2
  • Phone Bans: A2 · B2
  • Robotaxi Race: B1 · B2
  • SpaceX: B1 · B2
  • Spy at OpenAI: A2 · B2
  • Tesla: A2 · B2
  • The Future: A2 · B2
  • The Future Is Coming / Arriving Early: A2 · B2
  • Treasure in Space / The Asteroid Gold Rush: A2 · B2
  • Universal Basic Income: B1 · B2
  • Waymo vs Uber: B1 · B2
  • Why Do We Love Being Scared?: A2 · B2
  • Working from Home: A2 · B2
  • French Protests: Vocabulary Match

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