diff --git a/src/dict.zig b/src/dict.zig
index 54e85ef..18962a7 100644
--- a/src/dict.zig
+++ b/src/dict.zig
@@ -33,6 +33,27 @@ fn loadDict() []const Wordle.Word {
     // allocate all words
     const dictionary = std.heap.smp_allocator.alloc(Wordle.Word, num) catch unreachable;
 
+    // iterate over all lines
+    var lines = std.mem.splitSequence(u8, src, "\n");
+    var idx: usize = 0;
+    while (lines.next()) |line| {
+        // skip empty line at end
+        if (line.len == 0) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        // assert line is correct length
+        if (line.len != Wordle.WordLen) {
+            std.debug.panic("length of '{s}' mismatches {d} characters", .{ line, Wordle.WordLen });
+        }
+
+        // copy line bytes over
+        @memcpy(&dictionary[idx], line);
+
+        // increment dictionary entry
+        idx += 1;
+    }
+
     // return complete dictionary
     return dictionary;
 }
@@ -72,7 +93,7 @@ fn expectNotDictionary(word: Wordle.WordLiteral) !void {
 }
 
 test "in dictionary" {
-    try expectDictionary("alone");
+    try expectDictionary("abash");
 }
 
 test "not in dictionary" {