diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Dictionary.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Dictionary.java
index 0835450c1..5229d14fa 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Dictionary.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Dictionary.java
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 package com.android.inputmethod.latin;
 
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
 import com.android.inputmethod.keyboard.ProximityInfo;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.SuggestedWords.SuggestedWordInfo;
 
@@ -49,6 +51,25 @@ public abstract class Dictionary {
         mDictType = dictType;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Searches for suggestions for a given context. For the moment the context is only the
+     * previous word.
+     * @param composer the key sequence to match with coordinate info, as a WordComposer
+     * @param prevWord the previous word, or null if none
+     * @param proximityInfo the object for key proximity. May be ignored by some implementations.
+     * @return the list of suggestions (possibly null if none)
+     */
+    // TODO: pass more context than just the previous word, to enable better suggestions (n-gram
+    // and more)
+    public ArrayList<SuggestedWordInfo> getSuggestions(final WordComposer composer,
+            final CharSequence prevWord, final ProximityInfo proximityInfo) {
+        if (composer.size() <= 1) {
+            return TextUtils.isEmpty(prevWord) ? null : getBigrams(composer, prevWord);
+        } else {
+            return getWords(composer, prevWord, proximityInfo);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Searches for words in the dictionary that match the characters in the composer. Matched
      * words are returned as an ArrayList.
diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Suggest.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Suggest.java
index 855971161..69b5f055a 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Suggest.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/Suggest.java
@@ -188,15 +188,15 @@ public class Suggest {
             if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(prevWordForBigram)) {
                 for (final String key : mDictionaries.keySet()) {
                     final Dictionary dictionary = mDictionaries.get(key);
-                    suggestionsSet.addAll(dictionary.getBigrams(wordComposerForLookup,
-                            prevWordForBigram));
+                    suggestionsSet.addAll(dictionary.getSuggestions(wordComposerForLookup,
+                            prevWordForBigram, proximityInfo));
                 }
             }
         } else {
             // At second character typed, search the unigrams (scores being affected by bigrams)
             for (final String key : mDictionaries.keySet()) {
                 final Dictionary dictionary = mDictionaries.get(key);
-                suggestionsSet.addAll(dictionary.getWords(
+                suggestionsSet.addAll(dictionary.getSuggestions(
                         wordComposerForLookup, prevWordForBigram, proximityInfo));
             }
         }
diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/spellcheck/AndroidWordLevelSpellCheckerSession.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/spellcheck/AndroidWordLevelSpellCheckerSession.java
index c94e0081c..0171dc06d 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/spellcheck/AndroidWordLevelSpellCheckerSession.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/spellcheck/AndroidWordLevelSpellCheckerSession.java
@@ -240,8 +240,9 @@ public abstract class AndroidWordLevelSpellCheckerSession extends Session {
                 if (null == dictInfo) {
                     return AndroidSpellCheckerService.getNotInDictEmptySuggestions();
                 }
-                final ArrayList<SuggestedWordInfo> suggestions = dictInfo.mDictionary.getWords(
-                        composer, prevWord, dictInfo.mProximityInfo);
+                final ArrayList<SuggestedWordInfo> suggestions =
+                        dictInfo.mDictionary.getSuggestions(composer, prevWord,
+                                dictInfo.mProximityInfo);
                 for (final SuggestedWordInfo suggestion : suggestions) {
                     final String suggestionStr = suggestion.mWord.toString();
                     suggestionsGatherer.addWord(suggestionStr.toCharArray(), null, 0,