Remove Filler Words and Bad Takes
Clean up speech finds the ums and uhs, repeated words, retakes and false starts in a talking video. You hear each cut with and without it, keep what you want, and StoryCut cuts the rest in one go, on the quiet between words, with your captions moved to match.
- Included in Pro (from $14/mo)
- Nothing is cut until you choose
Filler word and retake removal: key facts
- Short answer
- Upload your video, open Silences & filler words in the Enhance tab and click Find under Clean up speech. Usually within half a minute you get a list of filler words, repeated words, retakes and false starts. Play each one, switch off what you want to keep, then click Cut: they all go in one pass, with the pauses too if you like.
- What it finds
- Filler words (um, uh, mhmm, and phrases like “you know”, “like” or “basically” only where they add nothing), repeated words (“the the”, “I was I was”), retakes (a sentence said again: the earlier take goes) and false starts (a sentence cut off, or “sorry, let me start again”).
- What it leaves alone
- Lists, emphasis and repetitions made on purpose are not listed. Words that are right twice (“that that”, “had had”) stay. A retake is only proposed when the take that stays says everything the cut one said, retakes never add up to more than 20% of your speech, and anything it isn’t sure about starts switched off.
- Clean cuts
- Cut edges come from the sound, not only from the transcript: each one lands on the quietest point between two words, and every join gets a short fade, so a cut doesn’t click or swallow the next word. A cut with no quiet point is never switched on for you.
- Captions
- The cut words leave your captions and everything after them is re-timed. Turn Remove Silence off and the original video and captions come back.
- Languages
- Filler words are found in English videos. Repeated words, retakes and false starts in any language StoryCut transcribes.
- Plan
- Pro ($14/mo billed yearly, $19/mo monthly) and Business, on videos you upload up to 10 and 30 minutes long. It works on videos you upload to edit, not on AI clips.
What Clean up speech looks for
Filler words
“Um”, “uh”, “mhmm”. Phrases like “you know”, “like” or “basically” are only listed where they carry no meaning, judged in the sentence.
Repeated words
“The the”, “I was I was”: the stumble goes, the sentence stays. Words that are correct twice are left alone.
Retakes
You said a sentence again to get it right. The earlier take is listed, next to the one that stays, so you see exactly what you keep.
False starts
A sentence that stops halfway, or “sorry, let me start again”: listed with the restart that follows.
Hear every cut first
Play with cut and Play original on each item, a filter for fillers, repeats and retakes, and a Remove switch on every one.
Pauses in the same pass
Tick “Cut pauses too” and the silences go in the same re-encode, at your edit style’s pace.
Filler words, retakes and silences: what each removal does
Silence removal cuts the gaps where nobody speaks. Filler-word removal goes further and cuts sounds that are spoken but add nothing. Retake removal cuts a whole sentence you said twice and keeps the better take. They need different kinds of detection: the pauses are measured on word timings, the filler words are heard in the audio (captions never contain them), and retakes are found by comparing your sentences, then checked by an AI that decides which ones are mistakes and which are on purpose.
That is why Clean up speech asks before it cuts. A repeated word can be emphasis, a list can sound like a retake, and “like” can be a filler or a verb. You see each proposal with the words around it, hear it with and without the cut, and only what you keep goes. Done together with the pauses, the whole clean-up is one re-encode of your video.
How to remove filler words from a video
Three steps in your browser.
- 1
Upload your video
MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI or MKV. Captions start on their own when the upload finishes.
- 2
Click Find
In the Enhance tab, open Silences & filler words and click Find under Clean up speech. Then click Review to open the list beside your video.
- 3
Review and cut
Play each cut, switch off what you want to keep, then click Cut. The button tells you how many cuts and how many seconds they save.
Filler word and retake removal in StoryCut, OpusClip, Submagic and Descript
| What it does | StoryCut | OpusClip | Submagic | Descript |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filler words | Yes, um, uh, mhmm, and “you know” or “like” only where they add nothing | Yes, um, uh, you know and stutters | Yes, AI Filler words | Yes, listed one by one |
| Retakes and false starts | Yes, cut only when the take that stays says it all | Yes, retakes, restarts and self-corrections (Pro) | Yes, AI Remove bad takes | Yes, Remove Retakes |
| Review each cut first | Yes, play each one with and without the cut | Yes, nothing is cut without your approval | Not documented for bad takes | Yes, item by item |
| Filler-word languages | English (retakes in any language) | English only | Not stated | English transcripts only |
| Cheapest plan | Pro, $14/mo billed yearly | Fillers on Starter ($15/mo); bad takes on Pro | Pro, $23/mo billed yearly | Hobbyist, $16/mo billed yearly; limited on Free |
Checked on November 4, 2026 from each product’s public pages.Sources7
- OpusClip: Speech cleanuphelp.opus.pro
- OpusClip: filler word recognitionhelp.opus.pro
- OpusClip pricingopus.pro
- Submagic pricingsubmagic.co
- Submagic auto video editorsubmagic.co
- Descript: filler wordshelp.descript.com
- Descript pricingdescript.com
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I remove “um” and “uh” from a video?
Upload it to StoryCut, open Silences & filler words in the Enhance tab and click Find under Clean up speech. You get a list of the filler words, repeated words, retakes and false starts; play each one, switch off what you want to keep, and click Cut. It is a Pro feature.
Can I hear a cut before it is made?
Yes. Every item has Play with cut and Play original, played on your video in the editor. Nothing is cut until you click Cut.
Will it cut words I said on purpose?
It tries hard not to. Lists, emphasis and repetitions the AI judges deliberate are not listed; words that are right twice, like “that that”, stay; and anything it isn’t sure about starts switched off. You decide on every item.
Does it remove bad takes?
Yes. When you say a sentence again, the earlier take is listed next to the one that stays, and it is only proposed when the kept take says everything the cut one said. False starts (“sorry, let me start again”) are listed too.
Does it work in other languages?
Filler words are found in English videos. Repeated words, retakes and false starts are found in any language StoryCut transcribes.
Do my captions stay in sync?
Yes. The cut words leave the captions and every caption after a cut is moved to its new time. Turning Remove Silence off brings the original video and captions back.
Can I remove the pauses at the same time?
Yes. Tick “Cut pauses too” before you click Cut: the silences longer than your edit style’s pace go in the same pass.
Does it work on AI clips?
No. Clean up speech is for videos you upload to edit; it isn’t available on AI clips.
Is there a free filler word remover?
Not in StoryCut: Clean up speech is part of Pro ($14/mo billed yearly, $19/mo monthly) and Business. Free and Starter can preview silence removal through Auto Edit, on videos up to 90 seconds.
Keep the Take, Lose the Ums
Upload a talking video, review every filler word and retake, and cut them in one go with your captions in sync.
- You review every cut
- Captions follow
- Pro from $14/mo
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