Vocabulary
Teach Epilude how to spell names, acronyms, and jargon every time you dictate, and how Narrator should say them.
Vocabulary lets you tell Epilude exactly how to spell the words you use most. Add a coworker's name, your company's acronym, or a technical term once, and Epilude will spell it your way for every dictation that follows.
How Vocabulary works
Each Vocabulary entry pairs a Phrase with a Preferred spelling. The phrase is what you say, or what the transcription gets close to. The preferred spelling is how Epilude should write it.
An entry can also hold a Pronounce as spelling that tells Narrator how to say the word.
Vocabulary corrections run on every dictation, in any app, at every Cleanup level. They're applied before shortcuts and any AI rewrite, so the rest of the pipeline always sees your preferred spelling.
Vocabulary works the same in Cloud mode and Local Mode. In Local Mode the corrections happen on your Mac, so your entries never leave the device while you dictate.
Two kinds of fixes
Use Vocabulary for words a transcription engine consistently mis-spells (names, brands, jargon). Use Shortcuts for short triggers that expand into longer phrases.
Adding a word
Open Vocabulary
Open Epilude and click Vocabulary in the sidebar.
Click Add word
Click the Add word button in the top-right of the page.
Enter the phrase and preferred spelling
Type the phrase as you'd say it (or as a transcription would render it), then the preferred spelling you want. Examples:
| Phrase | Preferred spelling |
|---|---|
| epilude | Epilude |
| kara mass | Kara Maas |
| API | API |
| we work | WeWork |
Save
Save the entry, then dictate the phrase in any text field. Epilude swaps it for your preferred spelling on the way in.
Quick-add from anywhere
You can add words to your Vocabulary without opening Epilude. Highlight a word in any app and press ⌘⇧D (the default hotkey). Epilude opens the editor with that text already filled in. With nothing selected, press ⌘⇧D right after a dictation and Epilude offers the last word you dictated.
Change the hotkey in Settings → Hotkeys → Quick-add to Vocabulary.
Teach Narrator how to say a word
Vocabulary can also teach Narrator how to say a word. Give the entry a Pronounce as spelling and every Narrator voice says the word that way, the EP-1 voice on your Mac and the cloud voices alike. Narrator looks for the entry's preferred spelling in the text it reads.
Open the entry
Click Add word, or click an entry's edit icon. You can also right-click any word in Narrator's text and choose Pronounce “word”…. Epilude opens Vocabulary on that word's entry, or on a new one, with the cursor in Pronounce as. The menu offers this only for words that contain a letter. If an entry or the Import sheet is already open in Vocabulary, close it first: Epilude does not open the word while you are editing.
Spell it the way it sounds
In Pronounce as, write the word in syllables joined by hyphens, and put the stressed syllable in capitals:
| Word | Pronounce as |
|---|---|
| Epilude | EP-ih-lood |
| Kubernetes | koo-ber-NET-eez |
| Lindqvist | LIND-kvist |
Save
The next time Narrator reads the word, it says it your way, and its plural too ("Epiludes"). Right-clicking the plural opens the same entry. Sentences Narrator has already prepared keep the old pronunciation.
Sounds to spell with: ee as in see, ih as in sit, ay as in say, eh as in bed, a as in cat, ah as in father, aw as in law, oh as in go, oo as in food, uh as in cup, eye as in my, ow as in now, oy as in boy, er as in her, zh as in vision, th as in thin, dh as in this, ng as in sing, j as in jam.
These are English sounds. A voice reading another language says the spelling by that language's own rules.
A pronunciation belongs to one word. For a full name, add each word as its own entry. With a cloud voice, the spelling is sent in place of the word.
Importing words
The Import button in the top-right of the page accepts a list of entries you can paste in at once. It's handy if you're moving from another tool or have a glossary in a spreadsheet. Put one entry on each row, the phrase and then the preferred spelling, separated by a comma. Each row becomes one Vocabulary entry.
A third column, if you include one, is the word's Pronounce as spelling, in syllables joined by hyphens with the stressed one in capitals, as in epilude,Epilude,EP-ih-lood. Import skips a third column that contains spaces or isn't a spelling it can read, and adds the entry without it.
Managing your entries
The Vocabulary page lists every word you've saved with a counter at the top showing your usage against the 1,000-entry limit. Search filters by phrase, preferred spelling or pronunciation. Click an entry's edit icon to change it, or use the trash icon to delete it. There's a short undo window in case you click the wrong one.
The master toggle at the top of the page pauses every correction at once without deleting your entries. Useful for testing whether Vocabulary or the transcription engine is responsible for an unexpected word.
Tips for good entries
- Add entries when you notice a pattern. If a word came out wrong twice in a row, add it.
- One entry per spelling. Rather than five variations of the same name, add the one your transcription produces.
- Names and brands matter most. Generic words usually come out fine; proper nouns are where Vocabulary pays off.
Troubleshooting
- My entry isn't taking effect. Make sure Vocabulary is enabled at the top of the page. Then check what the transcription produced. If the engine heard "Cara" but your phrase is "Kara", add a second entry for "Cara".
- The preferred spelling is being rewritten. At Cleanup levels Light, Medium, or High, the AI sees your preferred spelling and respects it. If it's getting changed, drop Cleanup to None or open a support ticket with the dictation log.
- I hit the entry limit. Remove entries you no longer need, or use Shortcuts for longer phrases that don't strictly need spelling correction.