Have you ever found yourself stuck in the middle of brainstorming, with ideas forming but not quite complete? Or maybe you’ve had a moment where a word slips your mind, and you just can’t call it to mind?
These are common situations many of us face, whether we’re creating content, solving problems, or developing new ideas. Enters ChatGPT, ready to come to the rescue. And one of the best prompt techniques to get ChatGPT’s help is fill-in-the-blank prompting.
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What Is Fill-in-the-Blank Prompting?
Simply put, you get ChatGPT to complete your incomplete ideas or fill in missing details when you apply the fill-in-the-blank prompt technique. Instead of providing a fully-formed question or statement, you offer part of a sentence or idea—or, as the name suggests, a blank—and ask ChatGPT to generate a response that completes your thought.
For example, you might use a prompt like:
A great way to improve productivity is ___
ChatGPT will fill in the blank with suggestions like “time management” or “setting clear goals.”
This technique is especially useful during brainstorming, as it directs the AI to focus on specific aspects of your idea, helping you refine and expand it.
Steps to Apply Fill-in-the-Blank Prompting
Using fill-in-the-blank prompting is straightforward. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Start with an Incomplete Idea
Craft a prompt that includes the specific concept or topic you want ChatGPT to complete, along with an instruction asking it to do so. For example, if you’re brainstorming a gift for a kitten, your prompt might be:
Help me complete this sentence: A unique gift for a 6-month-old kitten is ___.
Note that you can use either ellipses (…) or underscores (_) to create the blank.
Step 2: Enter this incomplete sentence into ChatGPT
Send the prompt to ChatGPT and let it fill in the blank with suggestions. Here’s a sample output from ChatGPT:
Step 3: Review and Refine the Suggestions
Once ChatGPT generates responses, review them. If you’re not happy with the answer, ask the AI to refine or expand on specific points to better fit your needs. You may provide additional information to help ChatGPT too.
Continuing from the example above, you can ask ChatGPT to revise its answer by providing more details with a prompt like this:
Examples of Practical Applications
Fill-in-the-blank prompting can be useful in a variety of brainstorming situations. Here are three common scenarios where it’s used:
1. When Words Slip Your Mind
Sometimes, you know exactly what you want to say, but a specific word escapes you. With fill-in-the-blank prompting, you can provide ChatGPT with a prompt like this and let the AI suggest the word you’re looking for:
Fill in the blank:
"The team carefully considered the ___ of their decision, knowing it could impact the project’s timeline and budget."
2. When You Only Need One Idea
If you have an incomplete thought and need a single, focused idea to finish it, you can use a prompt such as:
Please complete this sentence:
A great way to improve customer experience is...
ChatGPT will complete the sentence with a single suggestion like “personalized support.”
3. When You Need Multiple Ideas
Fill-in-the-blank prompting can also be used when you’re looking for multiple ideas to complete your unfinished thought. Simply tell ChatGPT that you’re seeking more than one answer.
For example:
Complete this sentence with 3 ideas:
The reasons cats don't sleep at night are...
Another approach is to include the same number of blanks as the number of ideas you’re expecting from ChatGPT.
For example:
Complete this sentence:
The reasons cats don't sleep at night are ___, ___, and ___.
By having 3 blanks in your prompt, you can expect ChatGPT to return 3 ideas.
Tips for Using Fill-in-the-Blank Prompting Effectively
Essentially, by applying prompt engineering best practices, you can get the most out of fill-in-the-blank prompting. Below are some practical points you should consider:
And also, review ChatGPT’s responses and ask for revisions until you’re happy with its output.
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