diff --git a/backend/services/vocabService.js b/backend/services/vocabService.js
index 7ebde2a..7feda36 100644
--- a/backend/services/vocabService.js
+++ b/backend/services/vocabService.js
@@ -346,7 +346,8 @@ export default class VocabService {
       .trim()
       .toLowerCase()
       .replace(/[\p{P}]+/gu, ' ')
-      .replace(/\s+/g, ' ');
+      .replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+      .trim();
   }
 
   _parseExercisePayload(value) {
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/social/VocabLessonView.vue b/frontend/src/views/social/VocabLessonView.vue
index d94c24a..af31fa6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/social/VocabLessonView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/social/VocabLessonView.vue
@@ -2705,7 +2705,8 @@ export default {
         .trim()
         .toLowerCase()
         .replace(/[\p{P}]+/gu, ' ')
-        .replace(/\s+/g, ' ');
+        .replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+        .trim();
     },
     normalizeVocab(s) {
       return this.normalizeComparableText(s);