To change one word to another everywhere in a Word document, use Find and Replace. On Windows, press Ctrl+H (or go to Home > Editing > Replace), type the old word in Find what, type the new word in Replace with, and select Replace All. Word swaps every match in seconds.
Before you use Replace All, it pays to turn on Find whole words only and, if capitals matter, Match case. Those two options prevent most accidental changes. The steps below cover both the quick swap and the careful, one-at-a-time approach.
Quick Answer
- Press Ctrl+H in Word for Windows to open the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
- Type the word you want to change in Find what.
- Type the new word in Replace with.
- Select More and check Find whole words only (and Match case if needed).
- Select Replace All, or use Find Next and Replace to review each change.
In This Guide
- Before you start
- Replace a word in Word for Windows
- Review and replace one match at a time
- Search options that prevent mistakes
- Wildcards basics
- Replace formatting and special characters
- Word for Mac
- Word for the web
- Which method should you use?
- Troubleshooting
- Frequently Asked Questions
Before You Start
Find and Replace is a built-in Word tool that searches your document for a word or phrase and swaps it for something else. You don’t need any add-ins.
What this guide covers, as of September 2026:
- Word for Windows: Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2024, Word 2021, Word 2019 and Word 2016. These share the same Replace dialog.
- Word for Mac and Word for the web, which have their own versions of the feature. Labels differ slightly, so they get separate sections.
A few tips before a big replacement:
- Save first. If you’re about to change hundreds of words, save the document (or a copy) so you have a clean version to go back to.
- Know your undo. Ctrl+Z undoes the last action. After Replace All, one Ctrl+Z reverses the whole batch in a typical case, but it’s safer not to rely on that for very large edits.
- Replace a selection only. If you select text before opening Replace, Word typically searches that selection first and may then ask whether to continue with the rest of the document.
Replace a Word in Word for Windows
This is the fastest way to change every instance of one word to another. Microsoft’s instructions describe this path in Find and replace text in Word.
- Open your document and click anywhere in the text.
- Go to Home > Editing > Replace, or press Ctrl+H. On a narrow window, the Editing group may be collapsed into a single button; click it to reveal Replace. Expected result: The Find and Replace dialog box opens on the Replace tab.
- In Find what, type the word you want to change, for example color.
- In Replace with, type the new word, for example colour.
- Select More >> to show the search options, then check Find whole words only. Check Match case too if capitalization matters.
- Before the next step: Replace All changes every match at once without showing them to you. If you’re unsure what will match, use the one-at-a-time method in the next section instead.
- Select Replace All. Expected result: Word shows a message telling you how many replacements it made.
- Select OK, then Close.
Scroll through the document to spot-check a few changes. If anything went wrong, press Ctrl+Z right away.
Review and Replace One Match at a Time
When a word has more than one meaning, or appears in names and titles you don’t want to change, review each match yourself.
- Press Ctrl+H and fill in Find what and Replace with.
- Select Find Next. Expected result: Word highlights the first match in the document. You can drag the dialog box aside to read the sentence around it.
- Decide what to do with this match:
- Select Replace to change it. Word then jumps to the next match.
- Select Find Next to skip it and leave it unchanged.
- Repeat until Word says it has reached the end of the document.
- Select Close.
This takes longer but is the safest method for contracts, résumés, academic papers or anything with proper names.
Search Options That Prevent Mistakes
Select More >> in the Replace dialog to see these options. Microsoft’s Replace Text article describes each one.
| Option | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Match case | Finds only text with the same capitalization | Changing “Apple” the company but not “apple” the fruit |
| Find whole words only | Skips matches inside longer words | Almost always when replacing a single word |
| Use wildcards | Lets symbols stand for other characters | Pattern searches (see the next section) |
| Sounds like (English) | Finds words that sound alike, such as there, their and they’re | Hunting down homophone mix-ups |
| Find all word forms (English) | Finds other forms of a word, such as find, finds, finding and found | Swapping a verb in every tense |
| Ignore punctuation characters | Treats hyphenated and unhyphenated versions alike | “e-mail” versus “email” |
| Ignore white-space characters | Ignores spacing differences | Text with inconsistent spaces |
Why Find whole words only matters
Without it, Word matches your word anywhere, even inside other words. Microsoft’s own example: if you change “One” without this option, “Someone” gets changed too. Another example: replacing art with design could turn “party” into “pdesigny.” Turning on Find whole words only prevents this.
Why Match case matters
By default, Word ignores capitalization when searching. That’s usually helpful, but it means “Bill” and “bill” are treated as the same word. Turn on Match case when the capital letter carries meaning.
You may also see Match prefix and Match suffix in some versions. They restrict matches to the start or end of words.
Wildcards Basics
Wildcards are symbols that stand in for other characters. They let you find patterns instead of exact words. To use them, select More >> and check Use wildcards.
- Asterisk (*) stands for any string of characters. Microsoft’s example: the* finds words such as “theater.”
- Question mark (?) typically stands for a single character. For example, gr?y would match both “gray” and “grey.”
A few cautions:
- When Use wildcards is on, Word treats the search as a pattern, and some options such as Find whole words only may become unavailable.
- Patterns can match more than you expect, so test with Find Next before running Replace All.
- Turn Use wildcards off when you go back to normal searches, or your next search may behave strangely.
Replace Formatting and Special Characters
The expanded Replace dialog has two more buttons at the bottom:
- Format lets you search for, or replace with, specific formatting such as a font or paragraph alignment. For example, you could find every instance of a word and replace it with the same word in bold. Click in the Replace with box first, then choose Format > Font. Select No Formatting later to clear it.
- Special inserts codes for characters you can’t easily type, such as em dashes and section breaks. This is handy for cleanup jobs; our guide to removing all page breaks in Word uses the same dialog.
If you’re fixing spacing problems, showing formatting marks first helps you see what you’re searching for. Our guide to showing spaces in Word explains how.
Word for Mac
Word for Mac has the same core feature, but the menus are arranged differently. Labels and shortcuts can vary by version, so use these steps as a guide.
- Open your document.
- Look for Edit > Find > Replace in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Some versions also offer Advanced Find and Replace in the same menu, which opens a dialog similar to the Windows one. Expected result: A search pane or dialog appears with a box for the text to find and a box for the replacement.
- Type the old word and the new word.
- Open the options (often a gear or settings icon in the search pane) to turn on whole-word and match-case matching if available.
- Select Replace All, or step through matches with Find or the arrow buttons and Replace.
To undo, press Command+Z.
Word for the Web
Word for the web (Word in a browser) supports finding and replacing text, with fewer options than the desktop app.
- Open the document in your browser.
- Press Ctrl+F, or select Home > Find. Expected result: A search pane opens with a Search in document box. Word starts searching as soon as you type.
- To refine the search, select the filter icon and choose Match case or Whole words only.
- To replace, look for a Replace option in the Find drop-down on the Home tab or in the search pane. Ctrl+H may also open it, depending on your browser.
- Enter the new word and choose Replace or Replace all.
The search part of these steps is documented in Microsoft’s article on finding text in a document. Wildcards, Sounds like and format replacement are desktop features, so open the file in the desktop app when you need them.
Which Method Should You Use?
| Situation | Best approach |
|---|---|
| Simple, unambiguous word swap | Replace All with Find whole words only on |
| Word also appears in names, titles or quotes | Find Next and Replace, one at a time |
| Capital letters change the meaning | Turn on Match case |
| Changing a verb in every tense | Find all word forms (English) |
| Pattern such as gray and grey | Use wildcards, test with Find Next first |
| Rewording whole sentences, not single words | Edit by hand, or try an AI rewrite tool |
If you want to rephrase a passage rather than swap a specific word, see our guide to using Copilot in Word to rewrite text.
Troubleshooting
Word says it can’t find the word
Check for typos and extra spaces in Find what. Then select More >> and make sure Match case and Use wildcards are off, and that no formatting is listed under the Find what box. If it is, select No Formatting.
Replace All changed parts of other words
Press Ctrl+Z to undo. Run the replacement again with Find whole words only checked.
Only part of the document was changed
You probably had text selected when you opened Replace, so Word searched just the selection. If Word asks whether to search the rest of the document, select Yes; otherwise, click in the text without a selection and run it again. Text in headers, footers, text boxes or comments may also need a separate pass.
Find whole words only is grayed out
This can happen when Use wildcards is on, or when your search contains more than one word. Turn off wildcards, or search for a single word.
Tracked changes show every replacement
If Track Changes is on, each replacement is recorded as a deletion and insertion. That’s expected. Accept the changes on the Review tab when you’re satisfied.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the shortcut for Find and Replace in Word?
On Windows, Ctrl+H opens the Replace tab directly. Ctrl+F opens the Navigation pane for searching only.
Can I undo Replace All?
Yes. Press Ctrl+Z (Command+Z on a Mac) immediately after. Save before large replacements as a backup.
Does Find and Replace change capitalization?
With Match case off, Word finds matches regardless of capitals, and the capitalization of the replacements may not always be what you want, for example at the start of a sentence. Spot-check a few results, or use Match case and run separate replacements for the capitalized and lowercase forms.
Can I replace a word with nothing to delete it?
Yes. Leave Replace with empty and select Replace All. Watch for double spaces left behind.
Can I replace words in several documents at once?
Not with the standard dialog. Open each document and run Find and Replace in each one.
Why don’t I see Sounds like or Find all word forms?
Those options are for English text and appear only after you select More >> in the desktop app.
Summary
- Press Ctrl+H or go to Home > Editing > Replace.
- Enter the old word in Find what and the new word in Replace with.
- Turn on Find whole words only, plus Match case if capitals matter.
- Use Replace All for simple swaps, or Find Next and Replace to review each one.
- Undo mistakes right away with Ctrl+Z.
Next step: Try a practice replacement on a saved copy of your document with Find whole words only turned on, and compare the count Word reports with what you expected.
Kermit Matthews is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience writing technology guides. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and has spent much of his professional career in IT management.
He specializes in writing content about iPhones, Android devices, Microsoft Office, and many other popular applications and devices.