The Filler Word Problem in Voice Typing
Studies show that the average person uses 5-8 filler words per minute in natural speech. That means a 3-minute voice dictation produces 15-24 filler words ("um," "uh," "like," "you know," "basically," "actually," "so," "right") mixed into your text.
Traditional voice-to-text tools like Google's built-in dictation, Apple Dictation, and Siri transcribe everything word-for-word. The result? Text that looks unprofessional and requires extensive manual editing — which defeats the purpose of voice typing in the first place.
In 2026, a new category of AI-powered voice typing tools has emerged that automatically strips filler words and cleans up grammar in real-time. Here's how they compare.
What Are Filler Words?
Filler words (also called disfluencies or verbal fillers) are unconscious sounds and words we use to fill pauses while speaking. Common examples include:
- Sound fillers: um, uh, hmm, er, ah
- Word fillers: like, you know, basically, actually, literally, right, so, well
- Phrase fillers: I mean, kind of, sort of, to be honest, at the end of the day
- Repetitions: "I want to, I want to go" → "I want to go"
These are perfectly normal in spoken conversation but look unprofessional in written text.
Apps That Remove Filler Words (Ranked)
1. Zavi AI — Best Filler Removal on Android
Zavi AI is the gold standard for filler word removal on mobile. It doesn't just strip fillers — it uses AI to understand your intent and restructure your speech into clean, professional text. This technology is called "Zero-Prompting" — the AI automatically knows that clean text is the desired output.
Example:
- What you say: "Um, so I was thinking, like, maybe we should, you know, probably schedule a meeting for, uh, next Tuesday at like 3 PM or something"
- What Gboard outputs: "Um so I was thinking like maybe we should you know probably schedule a meeting for uh next Tuesday at like 3 PM or something"
- What Zavi outputs: "Let's schedule a meeting for next Tuesday at 3:00 PM."
Platforms: Android, macOS, Windows, Linux | Price: Free (Pro $7.99/mo)
2. Wispr Flow — Best Filler Removal on Desktop
Wispr Flow offers excellent filler removal for Mac and Windows desktop users. It understands context across longer sessions and features a voice command mode for editing. However, it's desktop-only (no mobile support) and costs $10/month.
Platforms: macOS, Windows | Price: $10/month
3. Otter.ai — Best for Meeting Transcription
Otter.ai is primarily a meeting transcription tool, but its "Smart Summary" feature can clean up transcripts by removing some fillers. However, it's designed for meetings, not real-time keyboard input. You can't use it as a keyboard replacement.
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android (as meeting app) | Price: Free (Pro $16.99/mo)
Why AI Filler Removal Matters
Removing filler words isn't just about aesthetics — it's about productivity. If you dictate 2,000 words per day and spend 5 minutes editing out fillers and fixing grammar, that's 30+ hours per year of pure editing time. AI filler removal eliminates this entirely, making voice typing genuinely faster than keyboard typing with no trade-offs.