AI Frontdesk: Setting custom pronunciations for terms

Valid for AI Receptionist (plans from August 31, 2026). (Momentum AI)

In most cases, your assistant pronounces names, brands, and technical terms correctly by itself during a call; pronunciation follows the primary language you have set. For special cases – unusual proper names or industry-specific terms, for example – you can control the speech output directly through the pronunciation dictionary: for each term, you store a phonetic spelling that the assistant uses when speaking. This feature is available in AI Receptionist. The following steps show you how to add and maintain terms.

When to use the pronunciation dictionary

The dictionary is intended for exceptional cases where the assistant does not pronounce a term the way you want – for example, in the case of:

International names with unfamiliar spellings (e.g. Nguyen, Siobhán).
Place names whose pronunciation differs from the spelling (e.g. Bicester as Bister, Loughborough as Luff-bruh).
Surnames with historical spellings (e.g. Cholmondeley as Chum-lee, Menzies as Ming-iss).
Acronyms that should be spoken as a word rather than letter by letter (e.g. ACAS, Ofsted).
Loanwords from other languages (e.g. balayage as bal-ay-ahzh, bruschetta as broo-sket-uh).

Tip: Before you create an entry, make a test call to check how the assistant already pronounces a term. Often, no adjustment is needed at all.

How the pronunciation dictionary works

In the dictionary, you store a phonetic spelling for each term. When the assistant recognizes the term, it pronounces it according to the stored spelling.

We recommend a simplified phonetic spelling: write the term the way it should be spoken, using ordinary English letters and no special characters. For example, for Bicester you store Bister.

Define terms

The pronunciation dictionary is part of the Language, Voice & Behavior section and sits there under the settings for your phone calls. To find out how to open this section, please read the article Customizing behavior and language.

Under Pronunciation dictionary, click on Manage terms. The Pronunciation dictionary panel will open.
Fill in the following fields:
- Term: the word as it is normally written (e.g. Bicester).
- Pronounce as: how the word should be spoken (e.g. Bister).
A blank line is added below the last entry for each additional term – complete it in the same way. You can find an existing entry using the Filter terms… search box at the top of the panel.
You can remove an existing entry using the bin icon on the right-hand side of the line.
Close the dictionary using the × in the top right-hand corner.

Note

The pronunciation dictionary only applies to the contract in which you enter it. If you have several contracts with AI Receptionist, please enter the terms individually in each contract.

Save changes

To apply your changes, click the Save changes button in the top right-hand corner. As long as you haven’t made any changes, the button will be grayed out and labeled No changes.

If you have already embedded the website widget on your website, your saved changes will be automatically applied there – there is no need to embed it again. It may take a few minutes for the changes to become visible to all visitors.

Tips for writing good entries

Spell the word as you hear it: say the word out loud and type it exactly as it sounds – for example, Wooster instead of Worcester.
Test the result with a phone call: the pronunciation may vary depending on the voice profile. A test call is a reliable way of checking whether your spelling produces the desired result.
Check existing entries from time to time: updates to the speech engine may render previously necessary entries obsolete.