How to Add Words to the iPhone Dictionary & Get Better Autocorrect Results

By Sarah Kingsbury Updated 12/11/2018

* This post is part of iPhone Life's Tip of the Day newsletter. Sign Up. *

iPhone Predictive Text is awesome at turning your garbled typing into coherent messages, notes, and more. Except when it's not. If you've ever felt so frustrated with bad iPhone spelling suggestions that you wanted to turn off Autocorrect on your iPhone, why not try adding words to the iPhone dictionary instead? Here's how to change words in Autocorrect.

Edit Autocorrect on iPhone by tapping the suggestion that appears in the predictive text field. This will teach iOS Autocorrect new words and spellings.

Accept the iPhone spelling suggestion by typing a space or a punctuation mark or tapping the word.

If you accidentally accept an incorrect Autocorrect suggestion, you can edit Autocorrect on your iPhone by tapping delete and retyping the last letter of your word and the suggestion will go away. Sometimes Autocorrect offers additional suggestions. If you accept too many erroneous corrections, Autocorrect may start correcting words you don't want changed. If this happens, you can edit the iPhone dictionary by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary.

Other ways of adding words to iPhone dictionary:

Adding a name to Contacts will update the iPhone dictionary. If the name of a person or company is in your contacts, Autocorrect will no longer try to change the correct spelling of that name and will even offer an iPhone spelling suggestion if you mistype the name.
Use the Word in the Safari search field. Searching the word in Safari is another way of adding words to the iPhone dictionary. Searching a word teaches iOS Autocorrect new words and their correct spelling.
Create a shortcut. Create a new shortcut for the word that Autocorrect does not recognize by going to Settings > Genera l> Keyboard > Text Replacement. Tap the + symbol and type the word you want in the Phrase field but leave the Shortcut field blank. Autocorrect will no longer offer incorrect iPhone spelling suggestions. If you commonly misspell a word that Autocorrect doesn't catch, use the misspelling as the shortcut for the correctly spelled word. Here's a tip on how to do just that: How to Create Keyboard Shortcuts on Your iPhone

Master your iPhone in one minute a day: Sign up here to get our FREE Tip of the Day delivered right to your inbox.

Topics

How-To

Keyboard

Settings

Did you like this tip

Author Details

Sarah Kingsbury

Sarah Kingsbury is the Editorial Director at iPhone Life. She manages the web editorial team and oversees all web and newsletter content. A long-time iPhone and Mac enthusiast, Sarah loves teaching people how to use their Apple devices.

Featured Products

Master Your iPhone With Our iPhone Basics Guide

Master your iPhone’s core functions and how to use your device with confidence! With our iPhone Basics guide you will learn to set up your iPhone, customize it, secure your data, explore apps, identify icons and alerts, and so much more! It's the guide that we wish Apple had included with their iPhones. Get it today risk-free with our 60-day money-back guarantee when you subscribe to iPhone Life Insider!

This USB-C Mouse Is the Last You'll Ever Need to Buy

Do you love your mouse? If not, it may be time for an upgrade! The Wired PBT Mouse by Matias stands out from the crowd because it is made using higher-quality plastic. Instead of using cheap ABS, these mice feel luxurious with a unique satin feel and aluminum scroll wheel. Matias has over 20 years of experience creating universal keyboards that work on Macs, PCs, iPads, and other USB-C-compatible devices. If you love their keyboard, you’ll love their mice, available in black and white with either USB or USB-C. It is also extra secure and doesn’t require installing any drivers. Try it today!