diff --git a/contextualSpellCheck/contextualSpellCheck.py b/contextualSpellCheck/contextualSpellCheck.py
index 62e2a91..d547f62 100755
--- a/contextualSpellCheck/contextualSpellCheck.py
+++ b/contextualSpellCheck/contextualSpellCheck.py
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def __init__(
                     debug_file_path = os.path.join(
                         current_path, "tests", "debugFile.txt"
                     )
-                    with open(debug_file_path, "w+") as new_file:
+                    with open(debug_file_path, "w+", encoding="utf8") as new_file:
                         new_file.write("\n".join(words))
                     print("Final vocab at " + debug_file_path)
 
diff --git a/contextualSpellCheck/tests/test_contextualSpellCheck.py b/contextualSpellCheck/tests/test_contextualSpellCheck.py
index aa33306..1280380 100644
--- a/contextualSpellCheck/tests/test_contextualSpellCheck.py
+++ b/contextualSpellCheck/tests/test_contextualSpellCheck.py
@@ -593,8 +593,8 @@ def test_vocab_file():
     ContextualSpellCheck(
         nlp, "contextualSpellCheck", vocab_path=testVocab, debug=True
     )
-    with open(orgDebugFilePath) as f1:
-        with open(debugPathFile) as f2:
+    with open(orgDebugFilePath, encoding="utf8") as f1:
+        with open(debugPathFile, encoding="utf8") as f2:
             assert f1.read() == f2.read()