Add custom words to Mac dictation: names and jargon.

Adding custom words to Mac dictation means telling it how to spell names and jargon it keeps getting wrong. Apple’s standard Dictation has no list for that. A separate Voice Control feature has a vocabulary list, and dictation apps such as Wispr Flow and Noted add a dictionary that fixes the spelling after speech is recognised.

This is for anyone who dictates client names, product names or code terms and is tired of retyping them. You get what each option does, a test you can run tonight, and the limits, including where Noted loses.

Can you add custom words to Mac dictation?

Not to standard Dictation. Apple’s Dictation guide covers the shortcut, languages and microphone, and says nothing about adding words (read 12 November 2026). The nearest thing in macOS is Voice Control’s vocabulary list. Past that, you need a dictation app with its own dictionary.

What does Apple offer instead?

• Voice Control vocabulary. Apple’s page says you can add up to 1,000 vocabulary terms, and import a text file with one term per line, only for languages that support it (if the Vocabulary option is dimmed, yours doesn’t). This is Voice Control, a hands-free control feature. Nobody on our team has tested whether these terms change what ordinary Dictation types, and Apple’s page doesn’t say.
• The Contacts trick. In an Apple Support Community thread, the top reply says to add the words as names in Contacts, because Dictation uses contact names. That is a user’s workaround, not something Apple documents. The same thread says you can’t remove words from the built-in dictionary. The page notes the community closes permanently on 20 November 2026, so the link may go.
• Fixing one word as you go. Apple’s guide lets you click an underlined word and pick an alternative. That corrects one word; it doesn’t teach Dictation anything.

Which fix fits your word?

How do Wispr Flow and Noted compare?

Wispr Flow facts are from its own dictionary article, re-read 12 November 2026; Noted’s are from the app’s code and the in-app text on its Dictionary page. Where Wispr Flow is better: bulk import, sync across your devices, shared team dictionaries on eligible plans, and auto-learn that adds words on its own. If you’ll load hundreds of terms, or use several computers, that matters.

Where Noted is better: your audio never leaves your computer. Speech becomes text on your computer, where Wispr Flow says “Transcription always occurs on the cloud” (data controls). And Noted’s free dictation has no word limit, where Wispr Flow’s free plan has “Limited words per week” (pricing). Both read 14 November 2026.

How does Noted’s Dictionary work?

Open Home, then Dictionary & snippets. Type a word as you want it spelled and click Add. For a word it hears differently, write “said as -> Written”.

• Plain entries. Creditsafe matches the whole word whatever the case, and ignores spaces, hyphens and apostrophes between its parts. So “credit safe” becomes “Creditsafe”, and “o’neill” becomes “O’Neill”.
• Exact, not fuzzy. A different mishearing needs its own entry.
• Symbols need a spoken form. An entry like C# only works as see sharp -> C#.
• Applied after recognition. In dictation and in meeting notes it fixes the spelling; it doesn’t change what the recogniser heard.

What does “Remember ‘heard’ → ‘meant’?” do?

After Noted pastes your dictation, it watches the field for 45 seconds. If you replace one to three of the pasted words with a name-like spelling, the bar asks “Remember ‘heard’ → ‘meant’?” with Add and Not now. Add puts the pair in your Dictionary. It skips password fields and apps you’ve excluded. A fix that only changes the case of ordinary words isn’t offered, so “apple” never becomes “Apple” everywhere. Reading the code, saying Not now twice to the same pair stops the offer for it.

What we have and have not tested

Run on 12 November 2026: the six Dictionary unit tests in Noted’s desktop code (all passed), and a throwaway script feeding ten lines through the same matching function the app calls. The results are in the table below. I also read the code for the 45-second Remember watch and its tests.

Tested by hand by our founder on Mac and Windows, November 2026: dictating into the app by voice with Dictionary entries, and the Dictionary on Windows.

Not tested: timing it; how often your recogniser mishears any of these names; whether Voice Control vocabulary changes ordinary Dictation; and the Contacts trick.

The mishearings are examples I picked, not measurements. The point is the rule: if the recogniser hears a name three different ways in a week, you add three lines, or accept the Remember offers as they come.

Follow tonight: a 20-minute setup

1. List ten words. Pick the names and terms you retype most: clients, teammates, products, one or two code terms.
2. Dictate a test paragraph. Say all ten in a note or any text field, and mark each one that came out wrong. Write down what it came out as.
3. Add plain entries first. Where the letters were right but the spacing or case was off, a plain entry is enough.
4. Add heard-as rules for the rest. Copy the wrong text you wrote down: pria ramen -> Priya Raman. For symbols, use the spoken form.
5. Dictate the paragraph again. Anything still wrong was heard differently this time. Add that variant as another line.
6. Use the Remember offer for the long tail. When you fix a name by hand after dictating, click Add instead of retyping it next week.

If dictation itself stops working, start with Mac dictation not working. If you dictate into a terminal or editor, see dictating into Claude Code and Cursor, where code terms matter most. Coming from Dragon, the Dragon for Mac alternative guide covers moving your vocabulary.

Our point of view

We think a dictionary should be predictable before it is clever. That is why Noted’s Dictionary is an exact-match fix applied to the text, and the app never claims to teach the recogniser new sounds. You can see why a word changed, and a word inside a longer word, such as “creditsafely”, is left alone (the same run showed that).

It is also why the Remember offer asks first instead of adding words on its own, and why it skips password fields and ordinary-word case changes. A dictionary that quietly rewrites your words is worse than one you have to feed. Related: if filler words are what you want gone, see removing um and uh from Mac dictation.

Limitations, honestly

• It does not improve recognition. Voice Control’s vocabulary, if it does influence recognition, would act on the sound; Noted’s Dictionary only fixes text afterwards.
• No bulk import, no sync. Wispr Flow has both, plus team dictionaries. Several computers or a long word list favour it.
• Every mishearing is a line. There is no fuzzy matching.
• Apple’s option is built in. If you only need a handful of words and already use Voice Control, its list costs nothing extra, though I have not tested its effect on Dictation.

Do my Dictionary words leave my computer?

The privacy page says your dictionary stays on your computer. The exception is Polish, Noted’s cloud dictation cleanup: it sends the text you Polish, with your dictionary words, and is processed, not stored. Dictation itself turns speech into text on your computer; Polish is a separate cloud step. See which Mac dictation works without internet for what needs a connection.

FAQ

Can I add words to Apple’s Dictation in System Settings?

No list is documented for standard Dictation. Voice Control has a vocabulary list; Apple lists up to 1,000 terms on its page.

Does the Contacts trick work?

It’s a community suggestion in an Apple forum thread, not an Apple instruction. We haven’t tested it.

Why does Mac dictation misspell my name?

The recogniser picks the likeliest ordinary words for the sound. A dictionary lets you override the spelling afterwards.

Is Noted’s Dictionary free?

Dictation is free forever, per the site. I found no separate limit on dictionary size in the app’s code.

Can I import a list of words into Noted?

Not that I found; you add them one at a time. Wispr Flow does import (see the table).

Why wasn’t my word fixed?

Usually the recogniser heard something different from your entry. Matching is exact, so add the wrong text as a heard-as rule.

Noted isn’t affiliated with Apple or Wispr Flow. Product names belong to their owners. Checked 12 November 2026; rivals’ pages change.

Sources

• Voice Control vocabulary (Apple Support)
• Dictate messages and documents on Mac (Apple Support)
• Apple Support Community thread
• Teach Flow your words with the dictionary (Wispr Flow docs), Data controls and Pricing (Wispr Flow)

Want your names spelled right when you hold one key and talk? Download Noted, free, or see Noted next to Wispr Flow.