Voice Control's vocabulary trick vs a dictation app built for it.
There is a free way to teach your Mac new words, and hardly anyone knows where it is. This is what it can do and where it stops.
| Feature | Zumbo | Voice Control vocabulary |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A dictation app with a vocabulary built in | An accessibility feature with a vocabulary list |
| Where the vocabulary lives | In the app, under Dictionary | System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control, Vocabulary |
| How many words | No list to fill | Up to 1000 terms |
| How words get added | Corrected once, while you work | Typed in advance, one at a time |
| Pronunciation | Learned from the correction | Recorded per term |
| Import a list | No | Yes, from a text file |
| Terms for a field, out of the box | 21 packs | None |
| Session length | No limit | Voice Control stays on |
| Notes, history and meetings | Yes | No |
| Price | $15 once | Free, part of macOS |
Read off Apple's own Voice Control vocabulary support page on 21 September 2026. A dash means the vendor does not state it on its own public pages, not that the answer is no.
What it is
Voice Control exists to let people operate a Mac by voice. The vocabulary is there so it can recognise the words you need it to act on. Using it to improve dictation is a workaround, and a legitimate one, but it is not what the feature is for.
Where the vocabulary lives
Four levels into the accessibility settings is the reason most people never find it. It is documented, it works, and almost nobody knows it is there.
How many words
Apple states a cap of 1000. That is generous for a list you type by hand and irrelevant if the list is never going to be typed, which is the more common outcome.
How words get added
This is the whole difference. Apple's vocabulary asks you to predict the mistakes. Teach turns a mistake you just watched happen into a permanent fix in about three seconds, at the only moment you were ever going to act on it.
Pronunciation
Apple lets you say each term so it knows how you pronounce it, which is genuinely good and is more control than Zumbo gives you. It is also one more step per word, times a thousand.
Import a list
If you already have a list of terms, Apple's import is a real advantage and Zumbo has no equivalent. Say so plainly: for a known glossary, that is the faster route.
Terms for a field, out of the box
Developer tools, legal, medical, design, marketing, writing and research, video and audio, and more, switched on by what you say you dictate most during setup. Nothing to type before you start.
Session length
Both avoid the timeout that sends people looking in the first place, by different routes.
Notes, history and meetings
Zumbo keeps a searchable history, takes notes with reminders parsed from what you said, and transcribes meetings with speaker labels. Voice Control does none of that, because none of it is what it is for.
Price
Voice Control costs nothing and is already on your Mac. If the workaround covers your case, use it and keep the money.
The honest recommendation
If you have a known glossary and ten spare minutes, use Apple's. Open System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control, Vocabulary, import your list or type the twenty terms that matter, record the awkward pronunciations. It is free, it is documented, and it feeds the same recogniser.
Ship the Q3 roadmap before Friday.
If instead your experience is that you keep meeting new wrong words while you are mid sentence, a list is the wrong shape of solution. You will never open System Settings at that moment, which means the list stays at the twenty terms you thought of on the first day. That is the case Zumbo is built around: three seconds, in place, and it never happens again.
Related: adding custom words to Mac dictation, Zumbo against Apple Dictation, and the 21 vocabulary packs.
Can Voice Control really fix dictation accuracy?
Up to a point, yes. Its vocabulary feeds the same recogniser, so terms you add there can be recognised. Apple documents it at System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control, Vocabulary, with a limit of 1000 terms.
Why does almost nobody know about this?
It is four levels into the accessibility settings and attached to a feature most people never open. Most articles about adding custom words to Mac dictation do not mention it at all.
So why would I pay for a dictation app?
Because a list you type in advance only catches the mistakes you can predict. If your problem is discovering new wrong words in the middle of your work, no amount of filling in a list catches up.
Can I use both?
Yes. Nothing here disables Voice Control, and if you have a glossary to import, its import is the faster route for those terms.
Does Voice Control work offline?
Apple states that dictation runs on device on Apple silicon Macs, with some languages and older hardware using its servers. Zumbo runs on your Mac in every case.
Free for 3 days, everything unlocked. Then $15 once. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon.