# Watched Words - Is there a way to block the use of asterisks with certain words instead of it being used as a wildcard?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-is-there-a-way-to-block-the-use-of-asterisks-with-certain-words-instead-of-it-being-used-as-a-wildcard/321834>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Tags:** watched-words\
**Created:** [August 15, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-is-there-a-way-to-block-the-use-of-asterisks-with-certain-words-instead-of-it-being-used-as-a-wildcard/321834 "2024-08-15T15:22:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-is-there-a-way-to-block-the-use-of-asterisks-with-certain-words-instead-of-it-being-used-as-a-wildcard/321834/2 "2024-08-15T16:05:38Z")

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I haven’t tried it, but escaping with backslashes like `f\*\*k` should probably work.

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