diff --git a/TODO.FACTOR.txt b/TODO.FACTOR.txt
index 0c14204d59..475d563935 100644
--- a/TODO.FACTOR.txt
+++ b/TODO.FACTOR.txt
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@
 - [ [ dup call ] dup call ] infer hangs
 - the invalid recursion form case needs to be fixed, for inlines too
 - graphical module manager tool
-- instead of decompiling words, add them to a 'recompile' set; compiler
-  treats words in the recompile set as if they were not compiled
+- forget should remove words from the recompile set
+  - unit test this
+- define should add words to the recompile set if they're interned
+  - unit test this
+- make sure the changed-words thing works with bootstrap too
 - see if alien calls can be made faster
 
 ========================================================================
diff --git a/library/compiler/compiler.factor b/library/compiler/compiler.factor
index 16202aa945..db8061e722 100644
--- a/library/compiler/compiler.factor
+++ b/library/compiler/compiler.factor
@@ -34,14 +34,14 @@ namespaces optimizer prettyprint sequences test threads words ;
 
 : recompile ( -- )
     [
-        recompile-words get hash-keys [ try-compile ] each
-        recompile-words get clear-hash
+        changed-words get hash-keys [ try-compile ] each
+        changed-words get clear-hash
     ] with-class<cache ;
 
 M: compound unxref-word*
     dup "infer" word-prop [
         drop
     ] [
-        dup dup recompile-words get set-hash
+        dup dup changed-words get set-hash
         { "infer-effect" "base-case" "no-effect" } reset-props
     ] if ;
diff --git a/library/compiler/generator/xt.factor b/library/compiler/generator/xt.factor
index eaff4205aa..4c91fd96b5 100644
--- a/library/compiler/generator/xt.factor
+++ b/library/compiler/generator/xt.factor
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@ USING: arrays assembler errors generic hashtables kernel
 kernel-internals math namespaces prettyprint queues
 sequences strings vectors words ;
 
-SYMBOL: recompile-words
-
-H{ } clone recompile-words set-global
-
 DEFER: (compile)
 
 : compiled-offset ( -- n ) building get length code-format * ;
@@ -25,7 +21,7 @@ C: label ( -- label ) ;
 SYMBOL: compiled-xts
 
 : save-xt ( word xt -- )
-    over recompile-words get remove-hash
+    over changed-words get remove-hash
     swap compiled-xts get set-hash ;
 
 SYMBOL: literal-table
@@ -86,7 +82,7 @@ SYMBOL: label-table
 : compiling? ( word -- ? )
     #! A word that is compiling or already compiled will not be
     #! added to the list of words to be compiled.
-    dup compiled? over recompile-words get hash-member? not and
+    dup compiled? over changed-words get hash-member? not and
     swap compiled-xts get hash-member? or ;
 
 : with-compiler ( quot -- )
diff --git a/library/words.factor b/library/words.factor
index 5d19a93cb1..7bd11ae5bf 100644
--- a/library/words.factor
+++ b/library/words.factor
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ USING: arrays definitions errors generic graphs hashtables
 kernel kernel-internals math namespaces sequences strings
 vectors ;
 
+! Used by the compiler
+SYMBOL: changed-words
+
+H{ } clone changed-words set-global
+
 M: word <=>
     [ dup word-name swap word-vocabulary 2array ] 2apply <=> ;
 
@@ -190,6 +195,7 @@ M: word subdefs drop f ;
 : forget-word ( word -- )
     dup unxref-word
     dup remove-word-help
+    dup changed-words remove-hash
     crossref get [ dupd remove-hash ] when*
     dup word-name swap word-vocabulary vocab remove-hash ;