diff --git a/book/src/configuration.md b/book/src/configuration.md
index 7514a3d0fcc3e..3fdb1b929c56b 100644
--- a/book/src/configuration.md
+++ b/book/src/configuration.md
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ on unix operating systems.
 | `auto-save` | Enable automatic saving on focus moving away from Helix. Requires [focus event support](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/wiki/Terminal-Support) from your terminal. | `false` |
 | `idle-timeout` | Time in milliseconds since last keypress before idle timers trigger. Used for autocompletion, set to 0 for instant. | `400` |
 | `completion-trigger-len` | The min-length of word under cursor to trigger autocompletion | `2` |
+| `completion-replacer` | Set to `true` to make completions always replace the entire word and not just the part before the cursor | `false` |
 | `auto-info` | Whether to display infoboxes | `true` |
 | `true-color` | Set to `true` to override automatic detection of terminal truecolor support in the event of a false negative. | `false` |
 | `rulers` | List of column positions at which to display the rulers. Can be overridden by language specific `rulers` in `languages.toml` file. | `[]` |
diff --git a/helix-core/src/transaction.rs b/helix-core/src/transaction.rs
index d2f4de07dbe74..8e24efad6a791 100644
--- a/helix-core/src/transaction.rs
+++ b/helix-core/src/transaction.rs
@@ -466,6 +466,42 @@ impl Transaction {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Generate a transaction from a set of potentially overallping changes.
+    /// Changes that overlap are ignored
+    pub fn change_ignore_overlapping<I>(doc: &Rope, changes: I) -> Self
+    where
+        I: Iterator<Item = Change>,
+    {
+        let len = doc.len_chars();
+
+        let (lower, upper) = changes.size_hint();
+        let size = upper.unwrap_or(lower);
+        let mut changeset = ChangeSet::with_capacity(2 * size + 1); // rough estimate
+
+        let mut last = 0;
+        for (from, to, tendril) in changes {
+            if last > from {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            // Retain from last "to" to current "from"
+            changeset.retain(from - last);
+            let span = to - from;
+            match tendril {
+                Some(text) => {
+                    changeset.insert(text);
+                    changeset.delete(span);
+                }
+                None => changeset.delete(span),
+            }
+            last = to;
+        }
+
+        changeset.retain(len - last);
+
+        Self::from(changeset)
+    }
+
     /// Generate a transaction from a set of changes.
     pub fn change<I>(doc: &Rope, changes: I) -> Self
     where
@@ -513,6 +549,19 @@ impl Transaction {
         Self::change(doc, selection.iter().map(f))
     }
 
+    /// Generate a transaction with a change per selection range.
+    /// Overlapping changes are ignored
+    pub fn change_by_selection_ignore_overlapping<F>(
+        doc: &Rope,
+        selection: &Selection,
+        f: F,
+    ) -> Self
+    where
+        F: FnMut(&Range) -> Change,
+    {
+        Self::change_ignore_overlapping(doc, selection.iter().map(f))
+    }
+
     /// Insert text at each selection head.
     pub fn insert(doc: &Rope, selection: &Selection, text: Tendril) -> Self {
         Self::change_by_selection(doc, selection, |range| {
diff --git a/helix-lsp/src/lib.rs b/helix-lsp/src/lib.rs
index 341d4a547b350..b1e76b47ceb90 100644
--- a/helix-lsp/src/lib.rs
+++ b/helix-lsp/src/lib.rs
@@ -271,10 +271,17 @@ pub mod util {
             None => return Transaction::new(doc),
         };
 
-        Transaction::change_by_selection(doc, selection, |range| {
+        Transaction::change_by_selection_ignore_overlapping(doc, selection, |range| {
             let cursor = range.cursor(text);
+            let start = cursor as i128 + start_offset;
+            let end = (cursor as i128 + end_offset) as usize;
+            // if inserting a completion at this cursor would go out of bounds
+            // return a trivial edit
+            if start < 0 || end > doc.len_chars() {
+                return (0, 0, None);
+            }
             (
-                (cursor as i128 + start_offset) as usize,
+                start as usize,
                 (cursor as i128 + end_offset) as usize,
                 replacement.clone(),
             )
diff --git a/helix-term/src/ui/completion.rs b/helix-term/src/ui/completion.rs
index f8d212d14d753..df0fcf9a4436a 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/ui/completion.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/ui/completion.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use tui::{buffer::Buffer as Surface, text::Span};
 
 use std::borrow::Cow;
 
-use helix_core::{Change, Transaction};
+use helix_core::{chars, Change, Transaction};
 use helix_view::{graphics::Rect, Document, Editor};
 
 use crate::commands;
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ impl Completion {
         start_offset: usize,
         trigger_offset: usize,
     ) -> Self {
+        let replace_mode = editor.config().completion_replace;
         // Sort completion items according to their preselect status (given by the LSP server)
         items.sort_by_key(|item| !item.preselect.unwrap_or(false));
 
@@ -118,13 +119,18 @@ impl Completion {
                 offset_encoding: helix_lsp::OffsetEncoding,
                 start_offset: usize,
                 trigger_offset: usize,
+                replace_mode: bool,
             ) -> Transaction {
                 let transaction = if let Some(edit) = &item.text_edit {
                     let edit = match edit {
                         lsp::CompletionTextEdit::Edit(edit) => edit.clone(),
                         lsp::CompletionTextEdit::InsertAndReplace(item) => {
-                            // TODO: support using "insert" instead of "replace" via user config
-                            lsp::TextEdit::new(item.replace, item.new_text.clone())
+                            let range = if replace_mode {
+                                item.replace
+                            } else {
+                                item.insert
+                            };
+                            lsp::TextEdit::new(range, item.new_text.clone())
                         }
                     };
 
@@ -136,21 +142,44 @@ impl Completion {
                     )
                 } else {
                     let text = item.insert_text.as_ref().unwrap_or(&item.label);
+                    let doc_text = doc.text().slice(..);
+                    let primary_cursor = doc.selection(view_id).primary().cursor(doc_text);
 
-                    // TODO: this needs to be true for the numbers to work out correctly
-                    // in the closure below. It's passed in to a callback as this same
+                    // TODO: this needs to be true for the closure below to work out
+                    // It's passed in to a callback as this same
                     // formula, but can the value change between the LSP request and
                     // response? If it does, can we recover?
-                    debug_assert!(
-                        doc.selection(view_id)
-                            .primary()
-                            .cursor(doc.text().slice(..))
-                            == trigger_offset
-                    );
+                    debug_assert!(primary_cursor == trigger_offset);
+                    let start_offset = primary_cursor - start_offset;
 
-                    Transaction::change_by_selection(doc.text(), doc.selection(view_id), |_| {
-                        (start_offset, trigger_offset, Some(text.into()))
-                    })
+                    Transaction::change_by_selection_ignore_overlapping(
+                        doc.text(),
+                        doc.selection(view_id),
+                        |range| {
+                            let cursor = range.cursor(doc_text);
+                            // if inserting a completion at this cursor would go out of bounds
+                            // return a trivial edit
+                            if cursor < start_offset {
+                                return (0, 0, None);
+                            }
+                            let end_offset = if replace_mode {
+                                // in replace mode replace the rest of the word
+                                doc_text
+                                    .chars_at(primary_cursor)
+                                    .take_while(|ch| chars::char_is_word(*ch))
+                                    .count()
+                            } else {
+                                // otherwise only replace up to the current edit
+                                0
+                            };
+
+                            (
+                                cursor - start_offset,
+                                cursor + end_offset,
+                                Some(text.into()),
+                            )
+                        },
+                    )
                 };
 
                 transaction
@@ -184,6 +213,7 @@ impl Completion {
                         offset_encoding,
                         start_offset,
                         trigger_offset,
+                        replace_mode,
                     );
 
                     // initialize a savepoint
@@ -206,6 +236,7 @@ impl Completion {
                         offset_encoding,
                         start_offset,
                         trigger_offset,
+                        replace_mode,
                     );
 
                     doc.apply(&transaction, view.id);
diff --git a/helix-view/src/editor.rs b/helix-view/src/editor.rs
index 50da3ddeac2df..e856971db96af 100644
--- a/helix-view/src/editor.rs
+++ b/helix-view/src/editor.rs
@@ -249,6 +249,9 @@ pub struct Config {
     )]
     pub idle_timeout: Duration,
     pub completion_trigger_len: u8,
+    /// Whether to instruct the LSP to replace the entire word when applying a completion
+    /// or to only insert new text
+    pub completion_replace: bool,
     /// Whether to display infoboxes. Defaults to true.
     pub auto_info: bool,
     pub file_picker: FilePickerConfig,
@@ -772,6 +775,7 @@ impl Default for Config {
             indent_guides: IndentGuidesConfig::default(),
             color_modes: false,
             soft_wrap: SoftWrap::default(),
+            completion_replace: false,
         }
     }
 }