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How to Adjust the Space between Words in Microsoft Word

By Erin Wright

In my last Microsoft Word tutorial, we adjusted the space between letters. Today, we’re going to adjust the space between words in Microsoft Word without altering the letter spacing.

Are you on a Mac? Please visit “How to Adjust the Space between Words in Word for Mac.”

A Word of Caution: You may be tempted to increase the space between words by adding multiple spaces. I strongly advise against this practice because adding unnecessary spaces (rather than making individual spaces bigger, as shown in this tutorial) can disturb other formatting in your document.

This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 200 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps will also work in Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013.

How to Adjust the Space between Words

  1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon.
Home tab in Word 365
Figure 1. Home tab
  1. (Optional) Select the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group to reveal your document’s formatting.
Show/Hide button in Word 365
Figure 2. Show/Hide button
  1. Select the part of the text you want to change. (Pro Tip: Press Ctrl + A to select the entire document.)
Example of selected text in Word 365
Figure 3. Example of selected text
  1. Take note of your current font size in the Font Size menu. The default space between words is based on your current font size.
Font Size menu in Word 365
Figure 4. Font Size menu
  1. Select the Replace button in the Editing group to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
Replace button in the Home tab in Word 365
Figure 5. Replace button
  1. Place your cursor in the Find what text box and then press your spacebar once to create one space.
"Find what" text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 6. “Find what” text box
  1. Place your cursor in the Replace with text box and then press your spacebar once to create one space.
"Replace with" text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 7. “Replace with” text box
  1. Select the More button to expand the dialog box. (Disregard this step if your dialog box is already expanded.)
More button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 8. More button
  1. Select the Format button.
Format button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 9. Format button
  1. Select Font in the Format menu.
Font option in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 10. Font option
  1. Select a larger or smaller font size in the Size menu in the Replace Font dialog box. Alternatively, you can type a specific size into the text box at the top of the menu.
Size menu in the Replace Font dialog box in Word 365
Figure 11. Size menu
  1. Select the OK button.
OK button in the Replace Font dialog box in Word 365
Figure 12. OK button
  1. Select the Replace All button.
Replace All button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 13. Replace All button
  1. A dialog box will report the number of replacements.
    • Select Yes if you want to expand the replacements to your whole document.
    • Select No if you only want the replacements in the text you selected in step 3.
Replacement information box in Word 365
Figure 14. Dialog box stating number of replacements
  1. Select the Close button.
Close button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word 365
Figure 15. Close button

The spacing between words should now be changed in your selected text.

Selected text with increased word spacing in Word 365
Figure 16. Example of text with increased word spacing
  1. (Optional) Reselect the Show/Hide button to hide your formatting (see figure 2).

Related Resources

How to Adjust Line Spacing in Microsoft Word

How to Adjust Page Margins in Microsoft Word

Updated February 16, 2023

Filed Under: Microsoft Word Tagged With: formatting, Microsoft 365, Word 2013, Word 2016, Word 2019, Word 2021, Word 365

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Technical Writer and Editor Erin Wright

Hello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube.

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