diff --git a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-recognizer-transducer-impl.h b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-recognizer-transducer-impl.h
index 13357f79..c439319e 100644
--- a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-recognizer-transducer-impl.h
+++ b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-recognizer-transducer-impl.h
@@ -78,9 +78,13 @@ class OfflineRecognizerTransducerImpl : public OfflineRecognizerImpl {
         config_(config),
         symbol_table_(config_.model_config.tokens),
         model_(std::make_unique<OfflineTransducerModel>(config_.model_config)) {
+    if (symbol_table_.Contains("<unk>")) {
+      unk_id_ = symbol_table_["<unk>"];
+    }
+
     if (config_.decoding_method == "greedy_search") {
       decoder_ = std::make_unique<OfflineTransducerGreedySearchDecoder>(
-          model_.get(), config_.blank_penalty);
+          model_.get(), unk_id_, config_.blank_penalty);
     } else if (config_.decoding_method == "modified_beam_search") {
       if (!config_.lm_config.model.empty()) {
         lm_ = OfflineLM::Create(config.lm_config);
@@ -97,7 +101,7 @@ class OfflineRecognizerTransducerImpl : public OfflineRecognizerImpl {
 
       decoder_ = std::make_unique<OfflineTransducerModifiedBeamSearchDecoder>(
           model_.get(), lm_.get(), config_.max_active_paths,
-          config_.lm_config.scale, config_.blank_penalty);
+          config_.lm_config.scale, unk_id_, config_.blank_penalty);
     } else {
       SHERPA_ONNX_LOGE("Unsupported decoding method: %s",
                        config_.decoding_method.c_str());
@@ -113,9 +117,13 @@ class OfflineRecognizerTransducerImpl : public OfflineRecognizerImpl {
         symbol_table_(mgr, config_.model_config.tokens),
         model_(std::make_unique<OfflineTransducerModel>(mgr,
                                                         config_.model_config)) {
+    if (symbol_table_.Contains("<unk>")) {
+      unk_id_ = symbol_table_["<unk>"];
+    }
+
     if (config_.decoding_method == "greedy_search") {
       decoder_ = std::make_unique<OfflineTransducerGreedySearchDecoder>(
-          model_.get(), config_.blank_penalty);
+          model_.get(), unk_id_, config_.blank_penalty);
     } else if (config_.decoding_method == "modified_beam_search") {
       if (!config_.lm_config.model.empty()) {
         lm_ = OfflineLM::Create(mgr, config.lm_config);
@@ -133,7 +141,7 @@ class OfflineRecognizerTransducerImpl : public OfflineRecognizerImpl {
 
       decoder_ = std::make_unique<OfflineTransducerModifiedBeamSearchDecoder>(
           model_.get(), lm_.get(), config_.max_active_paths,
-          config_.lm_config.scale, config_.blank_penalty);
+          config_.lm_config.scale, unk_id_, config_.blank_penalty);
     } else {
       SHERPA_ONNX_LOGE("Unsupported decoding method: %s",
                        config_.decoding_method.c_str());
@@ -293,6 +301,7 @@ class OfflineRecognizerTransducerImpl : public OfflineRecognizerImpl {
   std::unique_ptr<OfflineTransducerModel> model_;
   std::unique_ptr<OfflineTransducerDecoder> decoder_;
   std::unique_ptr<OfflineLM> lm_;
+  int32_t unk_id_ = -1;
 };
 
 }  // namespace sherpa_onnx
diff --git a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.cc b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.cc
index c8809a9f..6fd3bf40 100644
--- a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.cc
+++ b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.cc
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ OfflineTransducerGreedySearchDecoder::Decode(Ort::Value encoder_out,
           std::max_element(static_cast<const float *>(p_logit),
                            static_cast<const float *>(p_logit) + vocab_size)));
       p_logit += vocab_size;
-      if (y != 0) {
+      // blank id is hardcoded to 0
+      // also, it treats unk as blank
+      if (y != 0 && y != unk_id_) {
         ans[i].tokens.push_back(y);
         ans[i].timestamps.push_back(t);
         emitted = true;
diff --git a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.h b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.h
index b284d22a..79109e60 100644
--- a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.h
+++ b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-greedy-search-decoder.h
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ namespace sherpa_onnx {
 class OfflineTransducerGreedySearchDecoder : public OfflineTransducerDecoder {
  public:
   OfflineTransducerGreedySearchDecoder(OfflineTransducerModel *model,
+                                       int32_t unk_id,
                                        float blank_penalty)
-      : model_(model), blank_penalty_(blank_penalty) {}
+      : model_(model), unk_id_(unk_id), blank_penalty_(blank_penalty) {}
 
   std::vector<OfflineTransducerDecoderResult> Decode(
       Ort::Value encoder_out, Ort::Value encoder_out_length,
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ class OfflineTransducerGreedySearchDecoder : public OfflineTransducerDecoder {
 
  private:
   OfflineTransducerModel *model_;  // Not owned
+  int32_t unk_id_;
   float blank_penalty_;
 };
 
diff --git a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.cc b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.cc
index 391620a0..7e81624e 100644
--- a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.cc
+++ b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.cc
@@ -131,8 +131,9 @@ OfflineTransducerModifiedBeamSearchDecoder::Decode(
 
         float context_score = 0;
         auto context_state = new_hyp.context_state;
-        if (new_token != 0) {
-          // blank id is fixed to 0
+        // blank is hardcoded to 0
+        // also, it treats unk as blank
+        if (new_token != 0 && new_token != unk_id_) {
           new_hyp.ys.push_back(new_token);
           new_hyp.timestamps.push_back(t);
           if (context_graphs[i] != nullptr) {
diff --git a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.h b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.h
index 08fa4182..2e67cd71 100644
--- a/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.h
+++ b/sherpa-onnx/csrc/offline-transducer-modified-beam-search-decoder.h
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ class OfflineTransducerModifiedBeamSearchDecoder
   OfflineTransducerModifiedBeamSearchDecoder(OfflineTransducerModel *model,
                                              OfflineLM *lm,
                                              int32_t max_active_paths,
-                                             float lm_scale,
+                                             float lm_scale, int32_t unk_id,
                                              float blank_penalty)
       : model_(model),
         lm_(lm),
         max_active_paths_(max_active_paths),
         lm_scale_(lm_scale),
+        unk_id_(unk_id),
         blank_penalty_(blank_penalty) {}
 
   std::vector<OfflineTransducerDecoderResult> Decode(
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ class OfflineTransducerModifiedBeamSearchDecoder
 
   int32_t max_active_paths_;
   float lm_scale_;  // used only when lm_ is not nullptr
+  int32_t unk_id_;
   float blank_penalty_;
 };