> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://developers.deepgram.com/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://developers.deepgram.com/_mcp/server.

# Filler Words

* [Try Filler Words in the Playground](https://playground.deepgram.com/?endpoint=listen-prerecorded\&filler_words=true\&language=en)

`filler_words` *boolean* Default: `false`

Pre-recorded  Streaming:Nova Streaming: Flux  English (all available regions)

Deepgram is capable of transcribing the following filler words:

* uh
* um
* mhmm
* mm-mm
* uh-uh
* uh-huh
* nuh-uh

These words will always be transcribed with the spelling listed above, regardless of their spoken duration (i.e., Deepgram will never transcribe "uhhhh" instead of "uh").

## Enable Feature

To enable Filler Words you can use the`filler_words` query parameter and set the value to `true`.

When `filler_words=false` or the parameter is not set, the two most common fillers, "uh" and "um", are stripped out of the transcript to improve readability.

> **Info**
>
> Currently, Filler Words are only available for Deepgram's Nova, Nova-2 and Nova-3 general models.

**Example**

**`cURL`**

```bash cURL
curl \
  --request POST \
  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
  --url 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?model=nova-3&filler_words=true'
```

> **Warning**
>
> Replace `YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY` with your [Deepgram API Key](https://console.deepgram.com/signup?jump=keys).

## Results

Once applied, results will appear in the transcript.

| Source                                                                                                                                                                     | With Filler Words                                                                                                                                                          | Without Filler Words                                                                                                                                              |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| uh-huh or you'd want something where uh so let's say you're trying to fine-tune a model to something very specific um so it's not as uh cut and dry as a more general task | uh-huh or you'd want something where uh so let's say you're trying to fine-tune a model to something very specific um so it's not as uh cut and dry as a more general task | uh-huh or you'd want something where so let's say you're trying to fine-tune a model to something very specific so it's not as cut and dry as a more general task |

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