How Twitter Mute Words Work on X, and What They Never Hide

On X, twitter mute words remove posts containing a word, phrase, username, emoji or hashtag from your Home timeline, your notifications and the replies under posts, while search keeps showing them. X's help page How to use advanced muting options lists every place the filter reaches: "Muting will remove these posts from your Notifications tab, push notifications, SMS, email notifications, Home timeline, and from replies to posts." Use it to cut noise from your own account, and use search or a monitoring tool when the goal is to find posts rather than hide them.

What do muted words do on X?

Muted words on X hide posts that contain a listed term from the places X pushes content to you. The filter covers the Home timeline, the Notifications tab, push notifications, SMS, email notifications, and replies to posts. X also says that "Recommendations delivered to you via email or through X will not suggest content that includes your muted words and hashtags."

Muting is one-sided. It changes only what your account shows: the post stays public, everyone else sees it as normal, and X's help page describes no notice to the author. In notifications, X applies the mute to replies and mentions "including all interactions on those replies and mentions: likes, Reposts, additional replies, and Quote post."

Where do muted words not apply on X?

Muted words do not apply to search, and they do not apply to post notifications you turned on for specific accounts. X's help page says it directly: "You will still see these posts via search." If you opted in to mobile notifications when an account you follow posts, X adds that "muting words and hashtags will not apply to these notifications."

Place on X	Muted words apply?
Home timeline	Yes, when you select Home timeline
Notifications tab, push, SMS and email notifications	Yes, when you select Notifications
Replies to posts	Yes
Recommendations by email or in the app	Yes
Search results	No
Post notifications from an account's bell icon	No

The search gap is the useful one. A muted term still turns up every matching public post when you search for it, so muting a word never blinds you to it on purpose. Our guide to X advanced search operators covers the queries that pull those posts back up.

How do you mute words on X?

You mute words on X from the Muted words list in settings, one entry at a time. On the iOS and Android apps, X's help page gives these steps:

1. Go to your Notifications tab.
2. Tap the gear icon.
3. Tap Muted, then tap Muted words.
4. Tap Add.
5. Type the word or hashtag you want to mute.
6. Select Home timeline, Notifications, or both.
7. Select From anyone or From people you don't follow (for notifications only).
8. Tap For how long? and choose Forever, 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days.
9. Tap Save.

On desktop, click More in the side menu, then Settings and privacy. Click the Privacy and safety tab, then Mute and block, then Muted words, and click the plus icon. The same options follow: Home timeline, Notifications, From anyone or From people you don't follow, and a mute timing of Forever, 24 hours from now, 7 days from now or 30 days from now.

To edit or remove an entry, open the same Muted words list, tap the word, change Mute from or Mute timing, or tap Delete word to unmute it.

What are the duration and audience options for X muted words?

X muted words have four durations and two audience settings, and the default duration is Forever. The audience setting applies to notifications only, so a word muted from your Home timeline is hidden there no matter who posted it.

Setting	Options	Default
Where	Home timeline, Notifications, or both	Set when you add the word
From	From anyone, or From people you don't follow	Set when you add the word
How long	Forever, 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days	Forever

X's help page also notes a legacy default. Words added back when muting covered notifications only carry the settings "Notifications only; From anyone; Forever" until you edit them. Open the list and check old entries, because some of them still filter only notifications.

How does X match a muted word?

X matches muted words without regard to case, and a muted word also mutes its hashtag. The help page gives the examples itself: muting "CATS" mutes "cats", and muting "unicorn" mutes both "unicorn" and "#unicorn".

Four more rules shape what a mute catches:

• Usernames need the @. To mute posts that mention an account, include the @ sign before the name. That mutes the mentions, not the account itself.
• Punctuation. You can include punctuation inside a word or phrase, and punctuation at the end is unnecessary.
• Languages. X says muting works across all X-supported languages.
• Length. X lets you mute terms "up to the max character count" and gives no number for how many entries the list holds.

Is muting words the same as monitoring keywords?

No. Muting words subtracts posts from the feeds X already shows you, while monitoring keywords adds posts from every public account, including people you will never follow. A mute list is a filter on your own view. It cannot alert you when a stranger writes "anyone know a good tool for this?", because that post never reaches your timeline in the first place.

The two jobs use the same idea in opposite directions:

	Muted words	Keyword monitoring
Scope	Your Home timeline and notifications	All public posts that match
Effect	Hides matching posts	Collects matching posts
Strangers' posts	Only the ones X already shows you	Every match, followed or not
Search	Ignores the mute list	Search is the starting point

The closest monitoring equivalent of a mute list is a negative keyword: a term that removes a match from your results, such as "hiring" or "giveaway" next to a product keyword. Our guide to negative keywords covers how to pick them, and our guide to Twitter social listening covers the wider workflow of tracking a market on X.

Mute it or go find it

A term clutters your feed

Mute it for Home timeline or Notifications

Want the posts instead?

Use search or keyword monitoring

How does RedReplier fit next to X muted words?

RedReplier handles the finding side that muted words leave out. RedReplier watches X for the keywords, phrases, competitor handles and topics you add, searches new X posts every 6 hours while leaving out replies and reposts, ranks every match by buyer intent and puts it in one feed, as the Twitter monitoring page describes. Matches land on your RedReplier dashboard after each search, and email alerts go out as digests on a cadence you set per keyword, from hourly to daily. RedReplier drafts a reply for each match and never posts it for you, so you review, edit and post every reply yourself. Keep your mute list for your own timeline, and let a monitor bring in the posts from people you don't follow. Our guide on how to monitor brand mentions shows how to build the keyword list.

Frequently asked questions

Do muted words on X hide posts from search?

No. X's help page states that you will still see posts with muted words via search. Muting covers the Home timeline, notifications, replies and recommendations only.

How long can you mute a word on X?

X offers Forever, 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days, and Forever is the default. You see the mute period next to each entry in the Muted words list, and you change it under Mute timing.

What does "From people you don't follow" mean for muted words?

It limits the mute to notifications from accounts you do not follow, so people you follow can still notify you with the muted term. The option applies to notifications only, not to the Home timeline.

Can you mute a hashtag or an account mention on X?

Yes. Muting a word also mutes its hashtag, so "unicorn" covers "#unicorn". To mute posts that mention an account, add the username with the @ sign, which hides those mentions without muting the account itself.

Does the person know you muted a word they posted?

X's muted words page describes no notice to the author, and for muted accounts X states that "Muted accounts will not know that you've muted them." Muting changes only what your own account shows, and the post stays public for everyone else.

Why do I still get notifications with a muted word?

Post notifications you turned on with an account's bell icon ignore muted words, according to X's help page. Old entries added when muting covered notifications only also default to Notifications only, From anyone and Forever, so edit them if they do not match what you expect.

How do you unmute a word on X?

Open the Muted words list in settings, tap the word, then tap Delete word. If you only want the mute to end sooner, change Mute timing on the same entry instead.

Are muted words case sensitive on X?

X matches muted words without regard to case. Muting "CATS" also mutes "cats", and muting "unicorn" covers "#unicorn" too.

Can you mute a phrase or an emoji on X?

Yes. X lets you mute a word, phrase, username, emoji or hashtag. You can include punctuation inside a phrase, and punctuation at the end is unnecessary.

How do you see posts you muted on X?

Search for the muted term. X ignores your mute list in search, so every matching public post shows up there. For ongoing tracking of those posts, a keyword monitoring tool collects them for you.