diff --git a/app/__tests__/builderReducer.test.ts b/app/__tests__/builderReducer.test.ts
index f33d1c63..0a2b53ab 100644
--- a/app/__tests__/builderReducer.test.ts
+++ b/app/__tests__/builderReducer.test.ts
@@ -95,6 +95,22 @@ test('home and end keyboard events are recognized', () => {
   expect(fromKeyString('End')).toEqual({ k: KeyK.End });
 });
 
+/*
+I D █
+I ^ █
+█ █ █
+
+^ This cell represents the rebus 'PAD'.
+*/
+test('short word warning', () => {
+  const state = getState(['I', 'D', '.', 'I', 'PAD', '.', '.', '.', '.'], {});
+  expect(builderReducer(state, publish).publishWarnings).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+    [
+      "Some words are only two letters long (ID, II)",
+    ]
+  `);
+});
+
 test('basic enum warnings', () => {
   const state = getState(['a', 'b', 'c', 'g', '', '', 'd', 'e', 'f'], {
     abc: 'test with good enum (3)',
diff --git a/app/reducers/builderUtils.ts b/app/reducers/builderUtils.ts
index adb39ad0..8401139d 100644
--- a/app/reducers/builderUtils.ts
+++ b/app/reducers/builderUtils.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ export function validateGrid(state: BuilderState) {
   }
 
   for (const [i, entry] of state.grid.entries.entries()) {
-    if (entry.cells.length <= 2) {
+    if (entry.completedWord && entry.completedWord.length <= 2) {
       hasNoShortWords = false;
     }
     for (let j = 0; j < state.grid.entries.length; j += 1) {
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ export function getWarningStats(state: BuilderState) {
   const shortWords = new Set<string>();
 
   for (const [i, entry] of entries.entries()) {
-    if (entry.cells.length <= 2) {
+    if (entry.completedWord && entry.completedWord.length <= 2) {
       shortWords.add(entryWord(grid, i));
     }
   }