IELTS · Guides · October 23, 2026 · 3 min read

IELTS Listening matching: match by meaning, keep up with the speakers

In Listening matching you get a numbered list (people, places, days, sections of a report) and a lettered list of options, usually A–H. For each numbered item you write the letter that matches what you hear. It is common in Part 3, where students discuss a project, and in Part 2, where a speaker describes what each place, person or event offers.

What the task looks like

Questions 5–10. What comment do the students make about each garden? Choose the correct letter, A–H.

Comments A It is too small. B It is popular with older people. C It needs more funding. …

Gardens 5. Hill Street garden 6. The rooftop garden …

The numbered items follow the order of the recording: you hear about question 5 first, then 6. The options do not: any option can come up at any point, and some are not used at all.

The hard part

You have to hold eight options in your head while two people talk quickly, and the options are almost always paraphrased. It is too small may be heard as there’s barely room for a dozen plots. The task tests whether you recognise meaning, not words.

Prepare in the pause

1. Read the options and shorten each one to a key idea: A small, B older, C money. Write it next to the letter.
2. Think of one or two paraphrases for each: money → funding, budget, grant, cost.
3. Read the numbered items. These are your signposts: the names of the gardens, the people, the days. They are not paraphrased, so you will hear them clearly.

During the recording

1. Listen for the signpost (the name of the next item), then for what is said about it.
2. Wait for the conclusion. In Part 3 one speaker often suggests something and the other disagrees: Isn’t it a bit small? — Not really, it’s bigger than it looks. The real issue is the money. The answer is money, not small.
3. Write the letter as soon as one is confirmed and move on to the next signpost.
4. Cross out letters as you use them, unless the instruction says a letter can be used more than once.
5. If two options seem possible, write both lightly and choose at the end.

Common traps

• Every option is mentioned somewhere. Some of them are mentioned about the wrong item, or as an idea that is rejected.
• The same word, a different meaning. An option says popular, and the speaker says it used to be popular.
• The answer comes late. Speakers sometimes talk about an item for a while before the matching comment arrives. Don’t move on too early.
• A missed item. If you hear the signpost for question 7 while you are still waiting for 6, leave 6 and focus on 7.

Practise with audio

Recordings with a matching task, each answer checked and explained with the line from the recording:

• A project on food waste: who will write each section of a report
• A presentation on urban gardens: comments on each garden
• Volunteering at a theatre: what each volunteer will do
• Comparing language-learning apps: what the students say about each app

Map and plan labelling is also a kind of matching; see map labelling. All six task types are in Listening question types.

Common questions

Can an option be used twice? Only if the instruction says You may choose any letter more than once. Otherwise each letter is used once at most.

How many options are left over? Usually two or three more options than questions.

Is it in Part 4? Rarely. Part 4 is mostly note completion.