diff --git a/doc/utils/sphinx-config/false_positives.txt b/doc/utils/sphinx-config/false_positives.txt
index cd68c3ddda..42c8116249 100644
--- a/doc/utils/sphinx-config/false_positives.txt
+++ b/doc/utils/sphinx-config/false_positives.txt
@@ -728,6 +728,7 @@ Eaat
 Eacn
 eam
 eangle
+earg
 eatom
 Eb
 Eba
@@ -2044,6 +2045,7 @@ Ngyuen
 nh
 nharmonic
 nhc
+nhi
 NiAlH
 Nicklas
 Niklasson
@@ -2059,6 +2061,7 @@ Nk
 nl
 nlen
 Nlines
+nlo
 nlocal
 Nlocal
 Nlog
@@ -2066,7 +2069,9 @@ nlp
 nm
 Nm
 Nmax
+nmax
 Nmin
+nmin
 Nmols
 nn
 Nocedal
@@ -3276,8 +3281,9 @@ Widom
 widom
 Wijk
 Wikipedia
-wildcard
 Wildcard
+wildcard
+wildcards
 Wirnsberger
 wirtes
 witin
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 9c897d5d7b..e53781585d 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -150,10 +150,10 @@ namespace LAMMPS_NS {
 This functions processes the string in *str* and set the values of *nlo*
 and *nhi* according to the following five cases:
 #. a single number *i*: nlo = i; nhi = i;
-#. a single asterix *\*\ *: nlo = nmin; nhi = nmax;
-#. a single number followed by an asterix *i\*\ *: nlo = i; nhi = nmax;
-#. a single asterix followed by a number *\*\ i*: nlo = nmin; nhi = i;
-#. two numbers with an asterix in between *i\*\ j*: nlo = i; nhi = j;
+#. a single asterisk *\*\ *: nlo = nmin; nhi = nmax;
+#. a single number followed by an asterisk *i\*\ *: nlo = i; nhi = nmax;
+#. a single asterisk followed by a number *\*\ i*: nlo = nmin; nhi = i;
+#. two numbers with an asterisk in between *i\*\ j*: nlo = i; nhi = j;
 \endverbatim
 
      *  \param file     name of source file for error message
@@ -174,10 +174,10 @@ and *nhi* according to the following five cases:
 This functions processes the string in *str* and set the values of *nlo*
 and *nhi* according to the following five cases:
 #. a single number *i*: nlo = i; nhi = i;
-#. a single asterix *\*\ *: nlo = nmin; nhi = nmax;
-#. a single number followed by an asterix *i\*\ *: nlo = i; nhi = nmax;
-#. a single asterix followed by a number *\*\ i*: nlo = nmin; nhi = i;
-#. two numbers with an asterix in between *i\*\ j*: nlo = i; nhi = j;
+#. a single asterisk *\*\ *: nlo = nmin; nhi = nmax;
+#. a single number followed by an asterisk *i\*\ *: nlo = i; nhi = nmax;
+#. a single asterisk followed by a number *\*\ i*: nlo = nmin; nhi = i;
+#. two numbers with an asterisk in between *i\*\ j*: nlo = i; nhi = j;
 \endverbatim
 
      *  \param file     name of source file for error message
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ and *nhi* according to the following five cases:
      *  If any expansion happens, the earg list and all its
      *  strings are new allocations and must be freed explicitly by the
      *  caller. Otherwise arg and earg will point to the same address
-     *  and no explicit deallocation is needed by the caller.
+     *  and no explicit de-allocation is needed by the caller.
      *
      *  \param file  name of source file for error message
      *  \param line  line number in source file for error message
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ and *nhi* according to the following five cases:
     /** Open a potential file as specified by *name*
      *
 \verbatim embed:rst
-If opening the file fails, it will search for it in the folder(s)
+If opening the file directly fails, it will search for it in the folder(s)
 pointed to by the environment variable LAMMPS_POTENTIALS.
 
 If the potential file has a ``UNITS`` tag in the first line, its