[HOW TO] How Do I Check for Duplicate Words in My CSV File?

2 min. readlast update: 03.24.2025

Checking for duplicates in your CSV file is pretty easy.

Click column A, the same column all your words are in.

In Excel, make sure you are on the home section, and click conditional formatting. 

(In Google Sheets, click format from drop down, then conditional formatting.)

In Excel, click Highlight Cells Rules then Duplicate Values

(In Google Sheets, pick from Format Cells if "Custom Formula is")

In Excel: Then a popup appears and you can change things from the drop downs, but there really is no need to do that, but you can if you choose too.

(In Google Sheets: Enter this formula   =countif(A:A,A1)>1   into the empty cell below the drop down.)

The words duplicated are now highlighted in your list, you can remove the duplicates until only one left. Once only one instance of the word is left, it will not be highlighted anymore.

OTHER METHOD:

In Excel, after highlighting the column, you can click Data > Remove Duplicates and then press ok. This will remove them right away and not highlight the cells with duplicated words.

In Google Sheets, after highlighting the column, you can click Data > Data Clean Up > Remove Duplicates, then click Remove Duplicates and it will get rid of the duplicates. This will remove them right away and not highlight the cells with duplicated words.

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