diff --git a/goaway.go b/goaway.go
index c026781..eef3e66 100644
--- a/goaway.go
+++ b/goaway.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ type ProfanityDetector struct {
 	sanitizeLeetSpeak         bool // Whether to replace characters with a non-' ' value in characterReplacements
 	sanitizeAccents           bool
 	sanitizeSpaces            bool
+	exactWord                 bool
 
 	profanities    []string
 	falseNegatives []string
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ func NewProfanityDetector() *ProfanityDetector {
 		sanitizeLeetSpeak:         true,
 		sanitizeAccents:           true,
 		sanitizeSpaces:            true,
+		exactWord:                 false,
 		profanities:               DefaultProfanities,
 		falsePositives:            DefaultFalsePositives,
 		falseNegatives:            DefaultFalseNegatives,
@@ -109,6 +111,16 @@ func (g *ProfanityDetector) WithCustomCharacterReplacements(characterReplacement
 	return g
 }
 
+// WithExactWord allows configuring whether the profanity check process should require exact matches or not.
+// Using this reduces false positives and winds up more permissive.
+//
+// Note: this entails also setting WithSanitizeSpaces(false), since without spaces present exact word matching
+// does not make sense.
+func (g *ProfanityDetector) WithExactWord(exactWord bool) *ProfanityDetector {
+	g.exactWord = exactWord
+	return g.WithSanitizeSpaces(false)
+}
+
 // IsProfane takes in a string (word or sentence) and look for profanities.
 // Returns a boolean
 func (g *ProfanityDetector) IsProfane(s string) bool {
@@ -119,6 +131,7 @@ func (g *ProfanityDetector) IsProfane(s string) bool {
 // Returns the first profanity found, or an empty string if none are found
 func (g *ProfanityDetector) ExtractProfanity(s string) string {
 	s, _ = g.sanitize(s, false)
+
 	// Check for false negatives
 	for _, word := range g.falseNegatives {
 		if match := strings.Contains(s, word); match {
@@ -129,15 +142,34 @@ func (g *ProfanityDetector) ExtractProfanity(s string) string {
 	for _, word := range g.falsePositives {
 		s = strings.Replace(s, word, "", -1)
 	}
-	// Check for profanities
-	for _, word := range g.profanities {
-		if match := strings.Contains(s, word); match {
-			return word
+
+	if !g.exactWord {
+		// Check for profanities
+		for _, word := range g.profanities {
+			if match := strings.Contains(s, word); match {
+				return word
+			}
+		}
+	} else {
+		tokens := strings.Split(s, space)
+		for _, token := range tokens {
+			if sliceContains(g.profanities, token) {
+				return token
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	return ""
 }
 
+func sliceContains(words []string, s string) bool {
+	for _, word := range words {
+		if strings.EqualFold(s, word) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func (g *ProfanityDetector) indexToRune(s string, index int) int {
 	count := 0
 	for i := range s {
diff --git a/goaway_test.go b/goaway_test.go
index 210cd8a..4df76ef 100644
--- a/goaway_test.go
+++ b/goaway_test.go
@@ -548,6 +548,36 @@ func TestFalsePositives(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestExactWord(t *testing.T) {
+	acceptSentences := []string{
+		"I'm an analyst",
+	}
+	rejectSentences := []string{"Go away, ass."}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name              string
+		profanityDetector *ProfanityDetector
+	}{
+		{
+			name:              "With Empty FalsePositives",
+			profanityDetector: NewProfanityDetector().WithExactWord(true).WithSanitizeSpecialCharacters(true).WithCustomDictionary(DefaultProfanities, nil, nil),
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			for _, s := range acceptSentences {
+				if tt.profanityDetector.IsProfane(s) {
+					t.Error("Expected false, got true from:", s)
+				}
+			}
+			for _, s := range rejectSentences {
+				if !tt.profanityDetector.IsProfane(s) {
+					t.Error("Expected true, got false from:", s)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestFalseNegatives(t *testing.T) {
 	sentences := []string{
 		"dumb ass", // ass -> bASS (FP) -> dumBASS (FFP)
@@ -564,6 +594,10 @@ func TestFalseNegatives(t *testing.T) {
 			name:              "With Custom Dictionary",
 			profanityDetector: NewProfanityDetector().WithCustomDictionary(DefaultProfanities, DefaultFalsePositives, DefaultFalseNegatives),
 		},
+		{
+			name:              "With Custom Dictionary",
+			profanityDetector: NewProfanityDetector().WithExactWord(true).WithCustomDictionary(DefaultProfanities, DefaultFalsePositives, DefaultFalseNegatives),
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {