The iPhone keyboard is usually very good at understanding what you are trying to type.

I know he can often fix my terrible writing and turn it into what I intended, even if my actual writing wasn’t anywhere close to what I wanted.

But it may encounter unusual words or proper names, which can be a problem if you type these words often.

Fortunately, it is possible to update the dictionary on the device with some user input to stop these fixes.

You can add words to the iPhone dictionary by going to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement > then tapping the + button and adding a word.

How to enable new iPhone autocorrect words

  1. Click “Settings”.
  2. Select General.
  3. Select keyboard.
  4. Click Replace Text.
  5. Click on the + icon.
  6. Enter a word in the phrase field, then click Save.

Our guide continues below with more information on using text replacement and predictive text input on iPhone, including pictures of the steps.

The iPhone has a built-in dictionary that is used to correct misspelled or misspelled words.

This feature can be very useful if you find it difficult to type on your phone’s small keyboard.

But the iPhone isn’t very good at handling names of people or companies, or some other word or phrase that it might constantly try to fix.

Fortunately, there is a way to update the iPhone dictionary so that it retains certain words as you type them.

Related: Our iPhone reset guide will show you several options for resetting information on your phone.

How to use text replacement to add words to the dictionary on iPhone

The steps in this article were done on an iPhone 13 running iOS 16.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

I open Settings

Step 2: Scroll down and select General.

Select General

Step 3: Click on the “Keyboard” button in this menu.

Select keyboard

Step 4: Tap on the Replace text option.

Select Replace Text

Step 5: Click on the + icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

Click the plus button

Step 6: Enter the word you want to add to the iPhone dictionary in the phrase field, then tap Save in the upper right corner of the screen.

How to add words to the iPhone dictionary

Now that you know how to add words to the iPhone’s dictionary, you can use this trick anytime you have a word that you type often that your iPhone doesn’t remember well.

Learn more about adding words to the iOS AutoCorrect dictionary

You may have noticed that there is a “Shortcut” field on the screen when adding a word to the iPhone dictionary.

This field gives you the option to enter a longer word or phrase simply by typing a few letters.

For example, the default iPhone has the dictionary designation “omw”. For example, if you type the letters “omv” in a text message, your phone will replace it with the words “on the road.”

If you add a word to the dictionary and decide later that you don’t need it there, or that you misspelled it, you can edit or delete the entry.

Just go back to the text replacement menu, then swipe left on the word you want to delete and hit the delete button.

You can also edit an iPhone dictionary entry by clicking an item in the text replacement list, changing the information, and then clicking the Save button.

There are a few other options in the Keyboard menu in the Settings app that you can turn on or off as well.

For example, you can change the following settings for all installed keyboards:

  • automatic correction
  • Smart punctuation
  • Personal preview
  • Enable dictation
  • Auto numbering

If your iPhone has an English keyboard, you can set up the following:

  • Automatic lowercase writing
  • Make sure to spell
  • Enable CapsLock
  • predictive
  • Slide to enter
  • Delete the slide to enter a password
  • “.” attached

Note that you can try to use the keyboard without auto-correction enabled or predictive options enabled if you have a lot of problems with “fixing” or replacing words on the iPhone.