How to stop saying “um”: filler words at work
6 min read · Reviewed 19 Sept 2026
Everyone uses filler words, in every language. “Um”, “uh”, “like”, “you know”, “so, basically”. They appear when your mouth is ready to continue and your brain is still choosing what comes next. The filler holds your turn in the conversation while you plan.
A few fillers are normal, and listeners barely notice them. The problem starts when they are frequent enough to become the thing people notice, or when they cluster around the most important sentence, which is exactly where they tend to appear, because that is where you are thinking hardest.
Why second-language speakers use more of them
In a second language you are planning content and language at the same time: what to say, which word, which tense. That doubles the load and produces more planning gaps, and each gap gets a filler. Many people also carry fillers over from their first language, or pick one English filler (“like”, “actually”, “basically”) and use it everywhere.
This matters because the usual advice, “just be more confident”, misses the cause. Fillers come from planning load, so the fix is to reduce the load and to change what you do in the gap.
A method that works
- Find out what you actually do
Record one minute of yourself answering a work question and read the transcript. Most people are surprised: they have one or two favourite fillers, often at the start of sentences. You cannot change a habit you have not seen.
- Replace, don't remove
Trying to simply stop creates tension, which makes it worse. Replace the filler with a silent pause. Close your mouth at the end of the sentence. A one-second pause feels very long to you and sounds thoughtful to everyone else.
- Plan the structure before you speak
If you know your answer has three parts, you only have to plan one part at a time. Most fillers happen when you are inventing the structure while talking.
- Use shorter sentences
Long sentences with several clauses create more decision points. A full stop is a free pause.
- Practise one situation at a time
Do not try to be filler-free all day. Pick one recurring moment, such as your standup update, and practise that until it is clean. The habit spreads from there.
“So, um, basically what we did is, like, we looked at the, uh, the customer data, and, um, we found that, you know, most of the complaints were, like, about delivery.”
“We looked at the customer data. [pause] Most complaints were about delivery.”
What not to worry about
- A filler now and then. Completely filler-free speech can sound rehearsed.
- Deliberate discourse markers such as “so”, “now” and “right” when they signal a new section. Those help the listener.
- Pauses. No listener has ever complained that a speaker paused for a second before an important sentence.