Why Word Splits Words With Hyphens at the Wrong Position in Custom Fonts

You type a paragraph in Word using a custom font, and when the text wraps to the next line, words break with a hyphen in the middle of a syllable or at an illogical spot. This problem usually occurs because the custom font lacks proper hyphenation metrics or because Word’s hyphenation engine is misapplying language-specific rules to a font that does not support them. This article explains the technical cause behind misplaced hyphens in custom fonts and gives you three specific steps to fix the behavior.

Why Custom Fonts Cause Wrong Hyphenation

Word uses two systems to decide where a word can break with a hyphen. The first system is the hyphenation dictionary for the language you have set in the text. The second system is the font’s internal character metrics, which include a special Unicode character called the soft hyphen or the font’s own glyph-positioning tables.

When you use a standard font such as Calibri or Times New Roman, the font file contains well-formed cmap and hmtx tables that give Word clear information about character width and line-break opportunities. Many custom fonts, especially those downloaded from independent foundries, skip or incorrectly encode these tables. A missing or malformed soft hyphen character at U+00AD causes Word to guess the break point based on the font’s character widths alone, which often results in a hyphen appearing one or two characters too early or too late.

A second cause is the language tagging inside the font. Some custom fonts embed a language tag that conflicts with the language you have set in Word. For example, a font designed for German may carry a language tag that tells Word to apply German hyphenation rules, even though your document is set to English. The hyphenation rules for German break compound words differently than English rules, leading to hyphens in the middle of English syllables.

How Word Decides Hyphen Positions

Word first checks the language of the text. Then it looks for a hyphenation dictionary for that language. If the dictionary exists, Word applies its rules. If the dictionary is missing or the language is not installed, Word falls back to a generic algorithm that splits words at character boundaries where the line is full. That generic algorithm does not understand syllables, so it often places a hyphen at a random position.

Custom fonts can also contain OpenType features that change the shape or width of characters after the line break has been calculated. When a font uses contextual alternates or ligatures, Word may recalculate the line width after the alternates are applied, and the original hyphen position no longer fits the new character widths.

Steps to Fix Hyphenation in Custom Fonts

You do not need to replace the custom font. The following steps adjust Word’s hyphenation settings and text formatting to work around the missing font data.

1. Turn off automatic hyphenation
   Go to File > Options > Proofing. Click AutoCorrect Options, then go to the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Under “Automatically as you type,” uncheck “Hyphenate the document automatically.” Click OK twice. This stops Word from inserting hyphens without your approval.
2. Set the document language to match the font’s intended language
   Select all text in the document by pressing Ctrl+A. Go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language. Choose the language that matches the text you are writing, such as English United States. Uncheck “Do not check spelling or grammar.” Click OK. This tells Word to use the correct hyphenation dictionary instead of the font’s embedded language tag.
3. Use manual hyphenation for the affected paragraph
   Place the cursor in the paragraph with the wrong hyphens. Go to Layout > Hyphenation > Manual. Word will scan the paragraph and present each potential hyphen break in a dialog box. You can accept or reject each break. Manual hyphenation overrides both the automatic hyphenation engine and the font’s internal data.
4. Disable font kerning for the affected text
   Select the text. Right-click and choose Font. Go to the Advanced tab. Under Character Spacing, set “Kerning for fonts” to 0 pt. Click OK. Kerning changes character spacing after the line break is calculated, and disabling it prevents Word from moving the hyphen position after the fact.
5. Remove soft hyphens from the custom font if you can edit it
   If you have font-editing software such as FontForge or Glyphs, open the custom font file. Locate the soft hyphen character at U+00AD. Delete or reassign its glyph to a blank space. Save the font and reinstall it. This removes the character that Word uses to find break points. Use this step only if you have permission to modify the font.

If Hyphenation Problems Persist After the Main Fix

Word still inserts hyphens after turning off automatic hyphenation

Check the paragraph formatting for a direct hyphenation override. Select the paragraph. Go to Layout > Hyphenation. Make sure “Automatic” is not selected. If it is, click “None” to remove the paragraph-level setting. Also check that no character style applied to the text has automatic hyphenation enabled.

Manual hyphenation shows no break points for long words

This happens when Word cannot find any dictionary entry for the word in the selected language. Switch the proofing language to a language that has a hyphenation dictionary installed. For English, install the English proofing tools via File > Options > Language. For other languages, add the language pack through Windows Settings > Time & Language > Language & region.

Hyphen position changes when the document is opened on another computer

The other computer may have a different version of the custom font or may be missing the font entirely. Embed the font in the document. Go to File > Options > Save. Under “Preserve fidelity when sharing this document,” check “Embed fonts in the file.” Select “Embed only the characters used in the document” to keep the file size smaller. This ensures the same font metrics are used on every computer.

Automatic Hyphenation vs Manual Hyphenation in Custom Fonts

Item	Automatic Hyphenation	Manual Hyphenation
How Word chooses break points	Uses the font’s internal metrics and the language dictionary	Shows each break point for you to accept or reject
Effect of custom font errors	Often produces hyphens at wrong positions because the font data is missing or conflicting	Ignores the font’s hyphenation data entirely
Speed	Fast, no user interaction	Slow, requires approval for each break
Best use case	Standard fonts with complete hyphenation tables	Custom fonts or documents with strict hyphenation rules
Can be applied to a single paragraph	Yes, via Layout > Hyphenation > Automatic	Yes, via Layout > Hyphenation > Manual

You can now control exactly where Word places hyphens in custom fonts. Start by turning off automatic hyphenation and using manual hyphenation for paragraphs that contain the custom font. If the problem continues, disable font kerning and check the document language setting. For a permanent fix, remove the soft hyphen character from the font file using font-editing software.