Spelling and contractions

Reviewed conventions, examples, and the sources behind them.

The checks below catch specific patterns in your text. They support your review; passing them does not verify every part of a convention.

The standardized spellings

Genius staff guidance

Use standardized spellings

The reviewed preferred forms, each over the spellings the guide corrects.

I'mma, Ima, Imma becomes I'ma
cause, cos, cuz becomes 'cause

cuz remains valid when it means cousin.
ok, O.K. becomes okay
til becomes 'til

British English uses till and is not rewritten.
trynna becomes tryna
aye, ay becomes ayy
hoe becomes ho

hoe remains valid for the gardening tool or its use.
tho becomes though
yah becomes ya

yah remains valid when it means yeah or yes.
ya’ll becomes y'all
skrt becomes skrrt
Perk, Percy becomes Perc', Perky

The replacement applies only when the word refers to Percocet.
boujee, boujie becomes bougie
shawty, shorty

Both forms are accepted according to pronunciation.
LyricLint reports neither form; the entry records the accepted variants and seeds Harper.
lil, li'l becomes lil'
whoa becomes woah
dawg becomes dog

Depends on the recording: Genius also allows a distinct or deliberate pronunciation to be written as heard, so compare the audio before replacing it.
choppa becomes chopper

Depends on the recording: Genius also allows a distinct or deliberate pronunciation to be written as heard, so compare the audio before replacing it.
oughtta becomes oughta
naïve becomes naive
cliche becomes cliché
alright, all right

Both forms are accepted.
LyricLint reports neither form; the entry records the accepted variants and seeds Harper.
AKA, AKAs, A.K.A, A.K.A.s becomes a.k.a., a.k.a.s

Which preferred form applies follows the position in the line.
G.O.A.T., G.O.A.T.s becomes GOAT, GOATs
V.I.P., V.I.P.s becomes VIP, VIPs
A.S.A.P. becomes ASAP

A$AP performer names remain unchanged.
CREAM, C.R.E.A.M. becomes cream

Keep C.R.E.A.M. when naming the Wu-Tang Clan song.
H.A.M. becomes HAM

What LyricLint checks

A spelling the guide standardizes
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Imma go
```
The reviewed Genius spelling guide recommends this form.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
I'ma go
```
See trigger and fix

Spell deliberate mispronunciations as sung

Genius staff guidance

Transcribe as spoken

A word an artist mispronounces or deliberately bends — local slang, or a rhyme forced into the flow — is transcribed to reflect the pronunciation, within reason; slang built on a mispronounced word is spelled the way it is usually written online, or as it is pronounced.

Exceptions and context

The same convention read the other way is what the linter checks: written-only texting shorthand such as idk stands for words the artist actually sang, so it is expanded to them rather than kept as letters nobody performed.

What LyricLint checks

Texting shorthand in a sung line
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Idk what to tell you
```
Texting shorthand is a way of writing rather than a way of singing: the letters stand in for words the vocal performs in full, and Genius wants the sung words in standardized spelling. Initialisms that are themselves said aloud — ASAP, OK, VIP — are left alone. Check the delivery before replacing this, since an artist who spells the letters out is transcribed as they sing them.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
I don't know what to tell you
```
See trigger and fix

Keep the standard spelling when unclear

Genius staff guidance

Transcribe as spoken

Where writing a pronunciation out would make the word hard to recognize, the standard spelling wins: business rather than bini for the Southern pronunciation, and rather than an' where the d softens, of rather than o' where the f does.

An apostrophe marks the omitted side

Genius staff guidance

When letters or a syllable are dropped from a word, the remaining characters take an apostrophe on the side of the omission — ballin', gon' for gonna, 'til, 'em — and a contraction's apostrophe always sits on the side its letters left.

Incorrect

Ballin like we used to

Correct

Ballin' like we used to

Exceptions and context

The linter checks the contractions and shortened forms it knows; an elision in a word outside its tables is the transcriber's to mark.

What LyricLint checks

A contraction missing its apostrophe
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Dont go
```
This list excludes especially ambiguous forms such as “ill” and “well.” Confirm the intended meaning before applying the punctuation.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
Don't go
```
See trigger and fix
A spelling the guide standardizes
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Imma go
```
The reviewed Genius spelling guide recommends this form.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
I'ma go
```
See trigger and fix

Transcribe in the artist's own English

Genius staff guidance

Use standardized spellings

A song by a British artist is transcribed in British spellings and one by an American artist in American: the lyric follows the variant its artist uses, never the transcriber's.

Exceptions and context

The linter reviews only the 'til/till pair, and only while a British or American English variant is selected; every other variant spelling is the transcriber's to keep consistent.

What LyricLint checks

A spelling from the other English
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Stay 'til dawn
```
British English accepts “till,” while American English uses “’til.” This is a consistency review, not an automatic replacement.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
Stay till dawn
```
See trigger and fix

Spelling follows the language's standard

LyricLint advisory

How to Add Songs to Genius

Outside deliberate as-sung spellings, lyric text follows the standard orthography of its language — the double-checked accuracy the transcription guide asks of every lyric.

Exceptions and context

The per-language checks are LyricLint's own curation against external dictionaries and academies — each rule's page cites its sources — rather than a reviewed Genius list; Genius's own reviewed forms are the standardized-spellings table above.

What LyricLint checks

A common English misspelling
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
I will definately stay
```
The standard spelling is “definitely.”
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
I will definitely stay
```
See trigger and fix
A common Norwegian misspelling
Flagged example
```
[Vers]
Det er desverre sant
```
The standard spelling is “dessverre.”
Accepted by this check
```
[Vers]
Det er dessverre sant
```
See trigger and fix
A common German misspelling
Flagged example
```
[Strophe]
Das ist garnicht wahr
```
The standard spelling is “gar nicht.”
Accepted by this check
```
[Strophe]
Das ist gar nicht wahr
```
See trigger and fix
“a el” where Spanish wants “al”
Flagged example
```
[Verso]
Voy a el mar
```
Spanish contracts the lowercase prepositions “a” and “de” with the article “el.” Capitalized “El” is left alone because it can belong to a proper name.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verso]
Voy al mar
```
See trigger and fix
A common Spanish misspelling
Flagged example
```
[Verso]
Porfavor ven
```
The standard spelling is “Por favor.”
Accepted by this check
```
[Verso]
Por favor ven
```
See trigger and fix
A common French misspelling
Flagged example
```
[Couplet]
Je sais, sa va
```
The reviewed standard spelling is “ça va.” The suggestion remains optional because lyrics can preserve intentional forms.
Accepted by this check
```
[Couplet]
Je sais, ça va
```
See trigger and fix
A non-standard Arabic spelling
Flagged example
```
[المقطع]
لاكن أحبك
```
This is a common standard-Arabic spelling correction, but dialect spelling and intentional lyric stylization can preserve the original form.
Accepted by this check
```
[المقطع]
لكن أحبك
```
See trigger and fix
A non-standard Japanese spelling
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
こんにちわ
```
This is the conventional spelling, but phonetic spelling and intentional lyric stylization can preserve the original form.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
こんにちは
```
See trigger and fix
A non-standard Korean spelling
Flagged example
```
[벌스]
됬어
```
This common spelling correction is offered as a preview so the transcription can retain intentional lyric styling.
Accepted by this check
```
[벌스]
됐어
```
See trigger and fix

Type reversed vocals as they sound

Genius staff guidance

Reversed lyrics

A vocal the production plays backwards is written out as it sounds, letter for letter, and capitalized as any other line would be; what the words are forwards belongs in an annotation rather than in the lyrics.

Correct

Emit eht lla ti od I

One letter pluralizes with an apostrophe

Genius staff guidance

Pluralizing letters

Pluralizing one letter takes an apostrophe before the s; pluralizing anything longer than a single letter does not, so an initialism or an abbreviation takes a bare s.

Incorrect

Two Ls and three CD's

Correct

Two L's and three CDs

Check a transcription in the workbench