Custom dictionary

Custom dictionaries allow you to extend the standard spell-check vocabulary with words specific to your organization, industry, or personal workflow, such as brand names, acronyms, technical terms, and proper names.

Words added to a custom dictionary are treated as correct during spell check. With the algorithmic spelling engine, dictionary words also appear in the suggestions list when a similar word is misspelled. With AI-based spelling, dictionary words won't be flagged as incorrect but won't appear as suggestions.

Types of custom dictionaries

WProofreader provides two types of custom dictionaries designed for different use cases: user dictionary and organization custom dictionary.

	User dictionary	Organization dictionary
Purpose	Personal wordlist owned by an end user	Shared wordlist managed by admins, intended to cover terminology used across the organization
Scope	Personal by default. Visible only to the user who created it. However, if an admin predefines the same dictionary name for multiple users via config, those users will share a single dictionary.	Applies to all users in the subscription or to targeted user groups
Language dependency	Language-agnostic. Works across all enabled languages.	Language-dependent. One dictionary per language.
Where managed	Product UI (WProofreader / SCAYT) or API	Cloud: admin panel (app.wproofreader.com) or API. Self-hosted: config files or API.
Can be enabled/disabled	Yes. Via connect/disconnect in the product UI, or programmatically by setting/removing userDictionaryName.	Yes. Via status toggle in the admin panel, or programmatically via API.
API command name	user_dictionary	custom_dictionary
Max dictionaries	Unlimited, but only one active at a time per user	50 per account
Max dictionary size	50 KB (approximately 10,000 words)	500 KB per dictionary (approximately 100,000 English words; varies by language)
Word rules	Max 63 characters. No spaces. No dots at start or end. No punctuation or special characters.	Same
Dictionary naming	Latin characters and/or digits only. Must be unique.	Same. Max 50 characters.

Which one should you use?

Use a user dictionary when the wordlist is:

• Owned by an individual end user

• Managed and accessible by the user directly from the product UI (adding, deleting words, and so on)

• Modified at runtime as the user works

• Not tied to a specific language

Use an organization dictionary when the wordlist is:

• Shared across many users

• Managed by admins or automation

• Split by language

• Part of a structured workflow (create, enable/disable, audit, delete)