A contact with several email addresses can produce a valid-looking Gmail recipient chip that points to the wrong destination. Confirm the actual address rather than relying on the person’s name or the Work and Home labels.
Choose the destination in the draft
Start typing the name and inspect the complete addresses offered. Select the intended one, then expand or inspect the recipient chip before sending. If you already chose the wrong address, remove that recipient and enter the verified address directly.
For a reply, inspect the original message’s reply destination too. Editing a contact does not automatically change the address supplied by a message’s Reply-To field.
Review the contact’s stored addresses
Open Google Contacts in the same account and check all email fields. Correct obsolete addresses or misleading labels that you control. Do not delete a valid personal address simply because the current conversation belongs at a work address.
When using a Google Contacts label for group mail, Google says only each contact’s default email address is included. Its guidance points to the Android Contacts app for changing a contact’s default address. Inspect the expanded group recipients instead of assuming the label includes every address.
Verify shared or confidential mail more carefully
Before sending sensitive information, confirm the destination through an established contact channel. A familiar display name is not identity verification. Check Cc and Bcc as well as To, particularly when a draft was copied or reused.
If Gmail keeps suggesting an obsolete entry after you edit the card, inspect Other contacts or a directory-provided record. Those are separate sources. Test with a fresh draft without sending. For a company-managed address, ask the directory owner to correct the authoritative record. Keep the troubleshooting focused on recipient selection; changing forwarding, aliases, or account sign-in settings does not fix a wrong address selected in a draft.
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References
Reviewed against the linked product guidance, standards, and identified vendor or public-authority guidance on October 29, 2026. Available options and screen labels can vary by account, device, region, and organization policy.