diff --git a/doc.zih.tu-dresden.de/util/grep-forbidden-words.sh b/doc.zih.tu-dresden.de/util/grep-forbidden-words.sh
index eff2fecea5c8e24f3d3d36581a9d25104d572a7e..6d975eb0c7b0210c552bbc7923042a60949e8110 100755
--- a/doc.zih.tu-dresden.de/util/grep-forbidden-words.sh
+++ b/doc.zih.tu-dresden.de/util/grep-forbidden-words.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,35 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+scriptpath=${BASH_SOURCE[0]}
+basedir=`dirname "$scriptpath"`
+basedir=`dirname "$basedir"`
+forbiddenpatternsfile=$(realpath $basedir/forbidden.patterns)
+
+#This is the ruleset. Each line represents a rule of tab-separated fields.
+#The first field represents whether the match should be case-sensitive (s) or insensitive (i).
+#The second field represents the pattern that should not be contained in any file that is checked.
+#Further fields represent patterns with exceptions.
+#For example, the first rule says:
+# The pattern \<io\> should not be present in any file (case-insensitive match), except when it appears as ".io".
+ruleset="i	\<io\>	\.io
+s	\<SLURM\>
+i	file \+system
+i	\<taurus\>	taurus\.hrsk	/taurus
+i	\<hrskii\>
+i	hpc \+system
+i	hpc[ -]\+da\>"
+
+function grepExceptions(){
+if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
+firstPattern=$1
+shift
+grep -v "$firstPattern" | grepExceptions "$@"
+else
+cat -
+fi
+}
+
 branch="preview"
 if [ -n "$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME" ]; then
     branch="origin/$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME"
@@ -9,49 +38,25 @@ fi
 
 any_fails=false
 
-files=$(git diff --name-only "$(git merge-base HEAD "$branch")")
+files=$(git diff --name-only "$(git merge-base HEAD "$branch")" | grep '.md$' | grep -v '^doc.zih.tu-dresden.de/README.md$')
 for f in $files; do
-    if [ "$f" != doc.zih.tu-dresden.de/README.md -a "${f: -3}" == ".md" ]; then
-        #The following checks assume that grep signals success when it finds something,
-        #while it signals failure if it doesn't find something.
-        #We assume that we are successful if we DON'T find the pattern,
-        #which is the other way around, hence the "!".
-
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: IO"
-        #io must be the whole word
-        if ! grep -n -i '\<io\>' "$f" | grep -v '\.io'; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: SLURM"
-        #SLURM must be the whole word, otherwise it might match script variables
-        #such as SLURM_JOB_ID
-        if ! grep -n '\<SLURM\>' "$f"; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: file system"
-        #arbitrary white space in between
-        if ! grep -n -i 'file \+system' "$f"; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-        #check for word taurus, except when used in conjunction with .hrsk or /taurus,
-        #which might appear in code snippets
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: taurus"
-        if ! grep -n -i '\<taurus\>' "$f" | grep -v 'taurus\.hrsk' | grep -v '/taurus'; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: hrskii"
-        if ! grep -n -i '\<hrskii\>' "$f"; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: hpc system"
-        if ! grep -n -i 'hpc \+system' "$f"; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-        echo "Checking wording of $f: hpc-da"
-        if ! grep -n -i 'hpc[ -]\+da\>' "$f"; then
-            any_fails=true
-        fi
-    fi
+    while IFS=$'\t' read -r flags pattern exceptionPatterns; do
+        while IFS=$'\t' read -r -a exceptionPatternsArray; do
+            echo "Checking wording of $f: $pattern"
+            case "$flags" in
+                "i")
+                    if grep -n -i "$pattern" "$f" | grepExceptions "${exceptionPatternsArray[@]}" ; then
+                        any_fails=true
+                    fi
+                ;;
+                "s")
+                    if grep -n "$pattern" "$f" | grepExceptions "${exceptionPatternsArray[@]}" ; then
+                        any_fails=true
+                    fi
+                ;;
+            esac
+        done <<< $exceptionPatterns
+    done <<< $ruleset
 done
 
 if [ "$any_fails" == true ]; then