diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/GameUtils.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/GameUtils.java
index b6a4364db..e926c1a17 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/GameUtils.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/GameUtils.java
@@ -243,6 +243,22 @@ public class GameUtils {
         return al.toArray( new String[al.size()] );
     }
 
+    public static boolean dictExists( Context context, String name )
+    {
+        boolean exists = dictIsBuiltin( context, name );
+        if ( !exists ) {
+            name = addDictExtn( name );
+            try {
+                FileInputStream fis = context.openFileInput( name );
+                fis.close();
+                exists = true;
+            } catch ( java.io.FileNotFoundException fnf ) {
+            } catch ( java.io.IOException ioe ) {
+            }
+        }
+        return exists;
+    }
+
     public static boolean dictIsBuiltin( Context context, String name )
     {
         boolean builtin = false;
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/CommonPrefs.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/CommonPrefs.java
index 0e04a7b4b..42247b460 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/CommonPrefs.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/CommonPrefs.java
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ public class CommonPrefs {
     public static String getDefaultDict( Context context )
     {
         String value = getString( context, R.string.key_default_dict );
-        if ( value.equals("") ) {
+        if ( value.equals("") || !GameUtils.dictExists( context, value ) ) {
             value = GameUtils.dictList( context )[0];
         }
         return value;