diff --git a/src/lib/components/TranscriptEditor.svelte b/src/lib/components/TranscriptEditor.svelte
index e2e3bf4..7a7517d 100644
--- a/src/lib/components/TranscriptEditor.svelte
+++ b/src/lib/components/TranscriptEditor.svelte
@@ -60,21 +60,28 @@
   function finishEditing(segmentId: string) {
     const trimmed = editText.trim();
     if (trimmed) {
-      // Update the segment text and rebuild words from the edited text.
-      // The display renders segment.words, so we must update them too.
       segments.update(segs => segs.map(s => {
         if (s.id !== segmentId) return s;
-        // Rebuild words from the edited text, preserving timing from the
-        // original segment boundaries (individual word timing is lost on edit)
-        const newWords = trimmed.split(/\s+/).map((word, widx) => ({
-          id: `${s.id}-word-${widx}`,
-          segment_id: s.id,
-          word,
-          start_ms: s.start_ms,
-          end_ms: s.end_ms,
-          confidence: 1.0,
-          word_index: widx,
-        }));
+        const newWordTexts = trimmed.split(/\s+/);
+        let newWords;
+        if (newWordTexts.length === s.words.length) {
+          // Same word count (e.g. spelling fix) — preserve each word's timing
+          newWords = s.words.map((w, widx) => ({
+            ...w,
+            word: newWordTexts[widx],
+          }));
+        } else {
+          // Word count changed — fall back to segment-level timing
+          newWords = newWordTexts.map((word, widx) => ({
+            id: `${s.id}-word-${widx}`,
+            segment_id: s.id,
+            word,
+            start_ms: s.start_ms,
+            end_ms: s.end_ms,
+            confidence: 1.0,
+            word_index: widx,
+          }));
+        }
         return {
           ...s,
           text: trimmed,