How to Add New Words to Your iPhone Dictionary: 4 Ways

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Easily add your own custom terms and words to your iPhone's dictionary

Written by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: December 20, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Using Pages to Learn Spelling
|
• Adding a Text Replacement
|
• Adding Your Word(s) as a Contact
|
• Training Autocorrect
|
• Video
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• Q&A

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When you are typing texts, emails, or notes on your iPhone, the iPhone dictionary helps by suggesting the spelling of the words you’re trying to type in. It also corrects the words that the program believes are spelled wrong. Sometimes, you may type a word that is not misspelled, but the dictionary just doesn’t recognize it. Your iPhone will suggest replacements or even replace the word with another similar one. To avoid this, try one of the workarounds below to get your iPhone to recognize these words and stop autocorrecting you.

Quick Steps

1. Open the Pages app.
2. Create a new document.
3. Type the words you want to add to your dictionary in the document.
4. Double-tap a word.
5. Choose Learn Spelling from the contextual menu.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Using Pages to Learn Spelling

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1. 
   1
   Open the Pages app. Pages is Apple's built-in word processing app for the iPhone. If you deleted the Pages app, reinstall it from the App Store for free.
2. 
   2
   Type your word in a new document. You can type as many words as you like.
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3. 
   3
   Double-tap the word, which should be underlined in red. A contextual menu will appear.
4. 
   4
   Scroll over and tap Learn Spelling. The word will be added to your iPhone dictionary, and your iPhone won't correct that spelling anymore.

   • Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each word you want to add.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Adding a Text Replacement

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1. 
   1
   Tap the gear icon on your iPhone’s home screen. The Settings menu of your device will open up.
2. 
   2
   Tap the General option. This will open up the General Settings menu.
3. 
   3
   Go to Keyboard. In the General Settings menu, scroll down a bit and tap Keyboard to open the Keyboard Settings menu.

   • When you enter the Keyboard Settings menu, check that these are enabled: Auto Correction, Check Spelling, and "." Shortcut.
4. 
   4
   Tap on Text Replacement. If you're on an older version of iOS, it may say Add Shortcut instead.
5. 
   5
   Tap the + button. It's in the upper-right corner.
6. 
   6
   Type in the word you want to add in the "Phrase" box. You can leave the "shortcut" box empty.
7. 
   7
   Tap on Save when you're done. You can see and use your inputted word without autocorrect interfering.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Adding Your Word(s) as a Contact

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1. 
   1
   Open the Contacts app. You can either open the Contacts app directly, or tap on the Phone app and go to the Contacts tab.
2. 
   2
   Tap the + button. It's in the upper-right corner.
3. 
   3
   Add a new contact with your word(s) as the first name. You can add multiple words to this contact, separated by a space. Your iPhone will then recognize these words and not try to autocorrect them when you type them. Your iPhone will now recognize the words you added to the contact and not try to autocorrect them when you type them.
4. 
   4
   Tap Done in the upper right corner.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Training Autocorrect

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1. 
   1
   Correct autocorrect when it tries to change your words. When you type a word autocorrect doesn't know, it will appear above your texts in the suggested words with quotes around it. Tap that option. Repeat this until your iPhone learns that you're not misspelling a word, but typing it like that on purpose.

Community Q&A

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• Question

  How can I use a new photo that is not on my profile?

  

  Community Answer

  Click on the last icon with three lines then on your name located at the top of the screen. At the top of the screen click of the cover photo button, and select the picture you would like to make your cover photo.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
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• Question

  Why doesn't the iPhone have a shortcut to "Add to Dictionary" like Android? I miss it after switching.

  

  Snakey006550

  Top Answerer

  The iPhone doesn't have an "Add to Dictionary" option because it uses a dynamic autocorrect system that learns words as you type. If you want to stop autocorrecting a specific word immediately, create a text replacement in Settings by adding the desired word in both fields, which works similarly to Android's feature.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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• Question

  How can I remove a word from my phone's dictionary?

  

  StrangelyQuiet

  Top Answerer

  You can't remove a specific word you've added, but you can reset the dictionary through settings to remove all the words you've added.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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