diff --git a/data/words.sql b/data/words.sql
index ac250739..5613d927 100644
--- a/data/words.sql
+++ b/data/words.sql
@@ -29787,7 +29787,7 @@ st	5557484
 
 -- prefill word table
 
-select count(make_keywords(v)) from (select distinct svals(name) as v from place) as w where v is not null;
+select count(precompute_words(v)) from (select distinct svals(name) as v from place) as w where v is not null;
 select count(getorcreate_housenumber_id(make_standard_name(v))) from (select distinct address->'housenumber' as v from place where address ? 'housenumber') as w;
 
 -- copy the word frequencies
diff --git a/lib-sql/functions/normalization.sql b/lib-sql/functions/normalization.sql
index f283f916..c7bd2fc5 100644
--- a/lib-sql/functions/normalization.sql
+++ b/lib-sql/functions/normalization.sql
@@ -377,40 +377,26 @@ $$
 LANGUAGE plpgsql;
 
 
-CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION make_keywords(src TEXT)
-  RETURNS INTEGER[]
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION precompute_words(src TEXT)
+  RETURNS INTEGER
   AS $$
 DECLARE
-  result INTEGER[];
   s TEXT;
   w INTEGER;
   words TEXT[];
   i INTEGER;
   j INTEGER;
 BEGIN
-  result := '{}'::INTEGER[];
-
   s := make_standard_name(src);
   w := getorcreate_name_id(s, src);
 
-  IF NOT (ARRAY[w] <@ result) THEN
-    result := result || w;
-  END IF;
-
   w := getorcreate_word_id(s);
 
-  IF w IS NOT NULL AND NOT (ARRAY[w] <@ result) THEN
-    result := result || w;
-  END IF;
-
   words := string_to_array(s, ' ');
   IF array_upper(words, 1) IS NOT NULL THEN
     FOR j IN 1..array_upper(words, 1) LOOP
       IF (words[j] != '') THEN
-        w = getorcreate_word_id(words[j]);
-        IF w IS NOT NULL AND NOT (ARRAY[w] <@ result) THEN
-          result := result || w;
-        END IF;
+        w := getorcreate_word_id(words[j]);
       END IF;
     END LOOP;
   END IF;
@@ -421,9 +407,6 @@ BEGIN
       s := make_standard_name(words[j]);
       IF s != '' THEN
         w := getorcreate_word_id(s);
-        IF w IS NOT NULL AND NOT (ARRAY[w] <@ result) THEN
-          result := result || w;
-        END IF;
       END IF;
     END LOOP;
   END IF;
@@ -433,13 +416,10 @@ BEGIN
     s := make_standard_name(s);
     IF s != '' THEN
       w := getorcreate_name_id(s, src);
-      IF NOT (ARRAY[w] <@ result) THEN
-        result := result || w;
-      END IF;
     END IF;
   END IF;
 
-  RETURN result;
+  RETURN 1;
 END;
 $$
 LANGUAGE plpgsql;
diff --git a/test/python/test_tools_database_import.py b/test/python/test_tools_database_import.py
index e2852acb..1311ef5d 100644
--- a/test/python/test_tools_database_import.py
+++ b/test/python/test_tools_database_import.py
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ def test_truncate_database_tables(temp_db_conn, temp_db_cursor, table_factory):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("threads", (1, 5))
 def test_load_data(dsn, src_dir, place_row, placex_table, osmline_table, word_table,
                    temp_db_cursor, threads):
-    for func in ('make_keywords', 'getorcreate_housenumber_id', 'make_standard_name'):
+    for func in ('precompute_words', 'getorcreate_housenumber_id', 'make_standard_name'):
         temp_db_cursor.execute("""CREATE FUNCTION {} (src TEXT)
                                   RETURNS TEXT AS $$ SELECT 'a'::TEXT $$ LANGUAGE SQL
                                """.format(func))