# Personal dictionary Canonical page: https://flit.fyi/glossary/personal-dictionary [Glossary](https://flit.fyi/glossary) / [What comes out](https://flit.fyi/glossary#output) Also: custom vocabulary Updated October 4, 2026 Definition A personal dictionary is the list of words a dictation tool has been taught to spell your way: names, products, jargon, and anything the speech model would otherwise write as the most probable English. It is the single most effective fix for the errors that repeat. A speech model has seen "Kubernetes" far less often than "kuber netties", and it has never seen your colleague’s surname at all. Left alone it writes the likeliest spelling of the sounds, and it will do so every single time, which is why the mistakes that matter in dictation are not the random ones but the ones that recur. A dictionary tells the tool, once, what you meant. Implementations range from a plain word list you edit by hand to tools that notice when you correct a word and offer to remember it. The second kind is the one that gets used, because nobody maintains a list. ## How the dictionary is applied Two ways, and the good tools use both. Biasing: the recognizer is told these words are likely, so it prefers them when the audio is ambiguous. Repair: after recognition, the output is checked for the known mishearings of each term ("kuber netties", "cube or netties") and they are replaced with the correct spelling. Repair is what makes a dictionary work for the words a model cannot be biased toward, and it is what lets a tool fix a name it has mangled the same way for the tenth time. ## Learning, with permission The best signal that a word belongs in the dictionary is you fixing it. A tool that watches for that edit and offers to remember the word builds a vocabulary you never had to type. The line to hold is consent: nothing should enter the dictionary without you saying yes, because a tool that silently learns from every edit will learn your typos too, and because a list of everything you have corrected is personal data. ## Beyond a word list A dictionary is a fixed list. Some vocabulary is better read from context: the names in the thread you are replying to, the file and folder names in the project you have open. A tool that reads those locally, for the duration of one dictation, extends the dictionary to whatever you are looking at without you saving anything. That is the developer-mode idea, applied to writing. ## How to add custom vocabulary on a Mac with Voice Control The custom vocabulary that Apple documents for the Mac belongs to Voice Control, the accessibility feature for controlling a Mac by voice. You can add up to 1000 terms and record how you say each one. Keep in mind that when Voice Control is on, standard Dictation is not available. 1. Choose Apple menu → System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Voice Control. 2. Click Vocabulary. If it is dimmed, your Voice Control language does not support a custom vocabulary. 3. Click the Add button, type the word or phrase exactly as you want it entered, then click Next. 4. Click the Record button, say the phrase, then click Save. You can also save without recording and record the pronunciation later. 5. Repeat for each term, then click Done. ## What to put in a dictionary first A short list of the right words beats a long list of every word you know. Start with the terms that come up every day and that a speech model has no reason to spell your way. Add the rest only when you see a word come out wrong twice. - Names of the people you write to most, including surnames with unusual spellings. - Your company, product, and project names, with their exact capitalization. - Acronyms and initialisms that are spoken as letters. - Technical terms from your field: tools, libraries, drugs, statutes, part numbers. - Place names and street names you use in addresses. - Words borrowed from another language that you say in the middle of English sentences. ## How to move a vocabulary list between tools Keep your master list as a plain text file with one term on each line. It is the format most tools can read, and it survives a change of app. Voice Control on the Mac imports exactly that: a text file with each term on a separate line, or a file that Voice Control exported earlier. In Voice Control, the Vocabulary settings have an Advanced Actions menu with Import Vocabulary and Export Vocabulary, and you choose the language each time. If you use Voice Control in more than one supported language, each language has its own list. Export before you reset a Mac, because a dictionary takes weeks to build and seconds to lose. In Flit Flit notices when you fix a word by hand and offers to remember it, keeps usage counts so the terms you actually say win, and repairs the engine’s known mishearings of each term. [It learns your vocabulary, and asks first](https://flit.fyi/features#dictionary) - [Your words, in Flit](https://flit.fyi/features#dictionary) - [“kuber netties” to Kubernetes](https://flit.fyi/#dictionary) - [The same idea, applied to your codebase](https://flit.fyi/#developers) - [Building a dictionary in a week](https://flit.fyi/blog/how-to-dictate-code) ## Questions people ask. ### How do I teach my dictation app a name? Add it to the personal dictionary, or in a tool that learns, fix the word once and accept the offer to remember it. From then on the tool prefers your spelling and repairs its usual mishearing of the word. ### Does the dictionary sync between devices? In cloud tools with an account, usually yes. In local tools, it lives on the Mac and travels with a backup or an export. That is the trade for the list never leaving your machine. ### Why does my tool keep getting the same word wrong? Because a speech model writes the most probable spelling of the sounds, and for your names and jargon the probable spelling is wrong every time. That is exactly what a personal dictionary fixes. ### How many words can I add to Voice Control vocabulary on Mac? Apple documents a limit of 1000 vocabulary terms. Each term can be a word or a phrase, and you can record how you pronounce it. ### Can I import a list of custom words on a Mac? Yes, in Voice Control. Open System Settings → Accessibility → Voice Control → Vocabulary, use the Advanced Actions menu, and choose Import Vocabulary with a text file that has one term per line. ### Is a text replacement the same as a custom vocabulary word? No. A text replacement swaps something you typed for other text. A vocabulary term teaches the speech recognizer a word so it is written correctly when you say it. ## Guides that use it - [Claude Code voice dictation](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-claude-code) - [Cursor voice input](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-cursor) - [Codex voice and dictation](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-codex) - [ChatGPT dictation on a Mac](https://flit.fyi/dictate-to-chatgpt-mac) - [Wispr Flow pricing](https://flit.fyi/wispr-flow-pricing) - [Uninstall Superwhisper](https://flit.fyi/uninstall-superwhisper-mac) ## On the blog - [Flit 1.1: new voice models and a new look](https://flit.fyi/blog/flit-1-1) - [A private dictation app for Mac, out now](https://flit.fyi/blog/introducing-flit) - [The best dictation apps for lawyers in 2026](https://flit.fyi/blog/dictation-for-lawyers) - [The best speech-to-text for developers in 2026](https://flit.fyi/blog/speech-to-text-for-developers) - [All posts](https://flit.fyi/blog) ## Use cases - [Developers](https://flit.fyi/use-cases/developers) - [Sales](https://flit.fyi/use-cases/sales) - [Lawyers](https://flit.fyi/use-cases/lawyers) - [Therapists & clinicians](https://flit.fyi/use-cases/therapists) - [Doctors & medical](https://flit.fyi/use-cases/medical) ## Compared on it - [Flit vs FluidVoice](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/fluidvoice) - [Flit vs Typeless](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/typeless) - [Flit vs Apple Dictation](https://flit.fyi/alternatives/apple-dictation) ## Related terms - [Word error rate](https://flit.fyi/glossary/word-error-rate) - [Text expansion](https://flit.fyi/glossary/text-expansion) - [Automatic speech recognition](https://flit.fyi/glossary/automatic-speech-recognition) - [Verbatim mode](https://flit.fyi/glossary/verbatim-mode) ## Your voice was always faster. 7 days free, then $19 USD once. No account, no subscription, nothing uploaded. [Download for Mac](https://flit.fyi/download) [Buy now · $19 USD](https://flit.fyi/pricing#personal) macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon