1 March 2022

Spell and say Kiev or Kyiv according to Microsoft Word

Peter Deegan Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office for Mac, Microsoft Word, Office 2016, Office 2019, Office 2021 / Office LTSC, Office 365

“You say Kiev, I say Kyiv” for the capital of the Ukraine. How does Microsoft Word handle the different spellings and how to pronounce the name with Read Aloud.

Is it Kiev or Kyiv?

Kyiv is the Ukrainian spelling of their capitals name, it’s pronounced ‘kee-yiv’ and the Cyrillic spelling is Київ

In the west we’ve more familiar with the Russian spelling; Kiev and pronunciation ‘kee-yev’. Cyrillic: Киев

As you’d expect the Russian spelling and pronunciation has fallen out of favor.

Kiev corrected in Microsoft Word

Both Kyiv and Kiev are accepted by the English language spell check in Word 365.

However there’s a Grammar and Refinements option to check for ‘Sensitive Geopolitical References’. If you have that selected (most don’t), Word will warn about the word ‘Kiev’ saying “It’s best to use current place names” and suggests ‘Kyiv’ instead.