diff --git a/frontend/__tests__/test/custom-text.spec.ts b/frontend/__tests__/test/custom-text.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e025fd7fd2af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/__tests__/test/custom-text.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+async function importCustomText(): Promise<
+  typeof import("../../src/ts/test/custom-text")
+> {
+  vi.resetModules();
+  window.localStorage.clear();
+  return await import("../../src/ts/test/custom-text");
+}
+
+describe("custom text", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    window.localStorage.clear();
+  });
+
+  it("uses language words when custom text is untouched default", async () => {
+    const CustomText = await importCustomText();
+
+    expect(CustomText.getEffectiveText(["uno", "dos", "tres"])).toEqual([
+      "uno",
+      "dos",
+      "tres",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps user custom text instead of language words", async () => {
+    const CustomText = await importCustomText();
+
+    CustomText.setText(["custom", "words"]);
+
+    expect(CustomText.getEffectiveText(["uno", "dos", "tres"])).toEqual([
+      "custom",
+      "words",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps explicitly set default text instead of language words", async () => {
+    const CustomText = await importCustomText();
+
+    CustomText.setText([
+      "The",
+      "quick",
+      "brown",
+      "fox",
+      "jumps",
+      "over",
+      "the",
+      "lazy",
+      "dog",
+    ]);
+
+    expect(CustomText.getEffectiveText(["uno", "dos", "tres"])).toEqual([
+      "The",
+      "quick",
+      "brown",
+      "fox",
+      "jumps",
+      "over",
+      "the",
+      "lazy",
+      "dog",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("returns stored text for UI", async () => {
+    const CustomText = await importCustomText();
+
+    expect(CustomText.getStoredText()).toEqual([
+      "The",
+      "quick",
+      "brown",
+      "fox",
+      "jumps",
+      "over",
+      "the",
+      "lazy",
+      "dog",
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/components/modals/CustomTextModal.tsx b/frontend/src/ts/components/modals/CustomTextModal.tsx
index 602cda856cab..db6122aca13d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/components/modals/CustomTextModal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/components/modals/CustomTextModal.tsx
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ export function CustomTextModal(): JSXElement {
     if (
       mode === "repeat" &&
       CustomText.getLimitMode() !== "time" &&
-      CustomText.getLimitValue() === CustomText.getText().length
+      CustomText.getLimitValue() === CustomText.getStoredText().length
     ) {
       mode = "simple";
     }
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ export function CustomTextModal(): JSXElement {
       }
     }
 
-    const text = CustomText.getText()
+    const text = CustomText.getStoredText()
       .join(pipeDelimiter ? "|" : " ")
       .replace(/^ +/gm, "");
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/test/custom-text.ts b/frontend/src/ts/test/custom-text.ts
index 43271d92b57b..9581648d0605 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/test/custom-text.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/test/custom-text.ts
@@ -27,12 +27,30 @@ const customTextLongLS = new LocalStorageWithSchema({
   fallback: {},
 });
 
+const userEditedSettingsText = new LocalStorageWithSchema({
+  key: "customTextSettingsUserEdited",
+  schema: z.boolean(),
+  fallback: false,
+});
+
 type CustomTextLimit = z.infer<typeof CustomTextSettingsSchema>["limit"];
 
+const defaultCustomText = [
+  "The",
+  "quick",
+  "brown",
+  "fox",
+  "jumps",
+  "over",
+  "the",
+  "lazy",
+  "dog",
+];
+
 const defaultCustomTextSettings: CustomTextSettings = {
-  text: ["The", "quick", "brown", "fox", "jumps", "over", "the", "lazy", "dog"],
+  text: defaultCustomText,
   mode: "repeat",
-  limit: { value: 9, mode: "word" },
+  limit: { value: defaultCustomText.length, mode: "word" },
   pipeDelimiter: false,
 };
 
@@ -57,12 +75,28 @@ const customTextSettings = new LocalStorageWithSchema({
   },
 });
 
-export function getText(): string[] {
+function isDefaultCustomText(text: string[]): boolean {
+  return (
+    text.length === defaultCustomText.length &&
+    text.every((word, index) => word === defaultCustomText[index])
+  );
+}
+
+export function getStoredText(): string[] {
   return customTextSettings.get().text;
 }
 
+export function getEffectiveText(languageWords: string[]): string[] {
+  const text = customTextSettings.get().text;
+  if (!userEditedSettingsText.get() && isDefaultCustomText(text)) {
+    return languageWords.slice(0, text.length);
+  }
+  return text;
+}
+
 export function setText(txt: string[]): void {
   const currentSettings = customTextSettings.get();
+  userEditedSettingsText.set(true);
   customTextSettings.set({
     ...currentSettings,
     text: txt,
diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/test/test-logic.ts b/frontend/src/ts/test/test-logic.ts
index 4876d02826f2..454628d1a67b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/test/test-logic.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/test/test-logic.ts
@@ -536,7 +536,7 @@ async function init(): Promise<boolean> {
     },
     customText: {
       ...CustomText.getData(),
-      text: `${CustomText.getText().length} words`,
+      text: `${CustomText.getStoredText().length} words`,
     },
     mode: Config.mode,
     mode2: Misc.getMode2(Config, null),
diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/test/words-generator.ts b/frontend/src/ts/test/words-generator.ts
index 52a3c9c1e4d2..1e64587ca0fb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/test/words-generator.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/test/words-generator.ts
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ export async function generateWords(
 
   let wordList = language.words;
   if (Config.mode === "custom") {
-    wordList = CustomText.getText();
+    wordList = CustomText.getEffectiveText(language.words);
   } else if (Config.mode === "quote") {
     wordList = await getQuoteWordList(language, wordOrder);
   } else if (Config.mode === "zen") {