diff --git a/text/_util.ts b/text/_util.ts
index 61e98b0f7002..e1d40cbce4fc 100644
--- a/text/_util.ts
+++ b/text/_util.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ export function splitToWords(input: string) {
 
 export function capitalizeWord(word: string): string {
   return word
-    ? word[0].toLocaleUpperCase() + word.slice(1).toLocaleLowerCase()
+    ? word?.[0]?.toLocaleUpperCase() + word.slice(1).toLocaleLowerCase()
     : word;
 }
diff --git a/text/closest_string.ts b/text/closest_string.ts
index 6ae8983fc4b4..3d2575f4aa25 100644
--- a/text/closest_string.ts
+++ b/text/closest_string.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export function closestString(
     givenWord = givenWord.toLowerCase();
   }
 
-  let nearestWord = possibleWords[0];
+  let nearestWord = possibleWords[0]!;
   let closestStringDistance = Infinity;
   for (const each of possibleWords) {
     const distance = caseSensitive
diff --git a/text/levenshtein_distance.ts b/text/levenshtein_distance.ts
index 53d765ee91f2..fa324ae92581 100644
--- a/text/levenshtein_distance.ts
+++ b/text/levenshtein_distance.ts
@@ -27,19 +27,19 @@ export function levenshteinDistance(str1: string, str2: string): number {
       const char1 = str1[str1Index];
       const char2 = str2[str2Index];
       if (char1 === char2) {
-        tempDistances.push(distances[str1Index]);
+        tempDistances.push(distances[str1Index]!);
       } else {
         tempDistances.push(
           1 +
             Math.min(
-              distances[str1Index],
-              distances[str1Index + 1],
-              tempDistances[tempDistances.length - 1],
+              distances[str1Index]!,
+              distances[str1Index + 1]!,
+              tempDistances.at(-1)!,
             ),
         );
       }
     }
     distances = tempDistances;
   }
-  return distances[distances.length - 1];
+  return distances.at(-1)!;
 }