diff --git a/klausur-service/backend/cv_ocr_engines.py b/klausur-service/backend/cv_ocr_engines.py
index 3d1f89e..ee43b73 100644
--- a/klausur-service/backend/cv_ocr_engines.py
+++ b/klausur-service/backend/cv_ocr_engines.py
@@ -876,6 +876,12 @@ def _replace_phonetics_in_text(text: str, pronunciation: str = 'british') -> str
         # Keep correct IPA (contains Unicode IPA characters)
         if any(ch in _IPA_CHARS for ch in content):
             return m.group(0)
+        # Keep real-word parentheticals like (probieren), (Profit), (Geld).
+        # Garbled IPA fragments are short nonsense like (kros), (cy), (mais)
+        # — they never contain a real word ≥4 letters with proper casing.
+        content_alpha = re.sub(r'[^a-zA-ZäöüÄÖÜßéèêëàâîïôûùç]', '', content)
+        if len(content_alpha) >= 4:
+            return m.group(0)
         logger.debug(f"phonetic: stripping orphan bracket '{m.group(0)}'")
         return ''