diff --git a/src/core/server/services/tenant/index.ts b/src/core/server/services/tenant/index.ts
index 8b3fe203b..b0eb33d66 100644
--- a/src/core/server/services/tenant/index.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/services/tenant/index.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ import { URL } from "url";
 import { discover } from "coral-server/app/middleware/passport/strategies/oidc/discover";
 import { Config } from "coral-server/config";
 import { TenantInstalledAlreadyError } from "coral-server/errors";
-import { GQLSettingsInput } from "coral-server/graph/tenant/schema/__generated__/types";
+import {
+  GQLSettingsInput,
+  GQLSettingsWordListInput,
+} from "coral-server/graph/tenant/schema/__generated__/types";
 import logger from "coral-server/logger";
 import {
   createTenant,
@@ -21,6 +24,20 @@ import TenantCache from "./cache";
 
 export type UpdateTenant = GQLSettingsInput;
 
+function cleanWordList(
+  list: GQLSettingsWordListInput
+): GQLSettingsWordListInput {
+  if (list.banned) {
+    list.banned = list.banned.filter(Boolean);
+  }
+
+  if (list.suspect) {
+    list.suspect = list.suspect.filter(Boolean);
+  }
+
+  return list;
+}
+
 export async function update(
   mongo: Db,
   redis: Redis,
@@ -39,6 +56,12 @@ export async function update(
     delete input.live.enabled;
   }
 
+  // If the word list was specified, we should validate it to ensure there isn't
+  // any empty spaces.
+  if (input.wordList) {
+    input.wordList = cleanWordList(input.wordList);
+  }
+
   const updatedTenant = await updateTenant(mongo, tenant.id, input);
   if (!updatedTenant) {
     return null;