diff --git a/src/queue-intelligence.ts b/src/queue-intelligence.ts
index 51352273c5..422935f810 100644
--- a/src/queue-intelligence.ts
+++ b/src/queue-intelligence.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ const MILLISECONDS_PER_DAY = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;
 /**
  * #9432: ordinary English that carries gittensor meaning ONLY in context. Each of these is a word a perfectly
  * safe review of this codebase's own gate/scoring code uses naturally -- "updates the ranking comparator",
- * "this improves reviewability", "the reward path". They are still matched by default (unchanged), but a repo
+ * "this improves reviewability", "the farming loop". They are still matched by default (unchanged), but a repo
  * that has POSITIVELY confirmed via {@link isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo}'s allowlist that this vocabulary is
  * safe public language for it can exempt them, exactly as bare "score" already could.
  *
@@ -51,12 +51,10 @@ const MILLISECONDS_PER_DAY = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;
  * VALUE, and a value never appears as a bare noun -- it appears qualified ("reward estimate 12 TAO", "trust
  * score 0.82", "score preview"). Every one of those QUALIFIED forms lives in
  * {@link ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS} below and stays enforced for every repo, allowlisted or not.
- * A bare "reward" or "ranking" with no number attached leaks nothing on its own. This generalizes the exact
+ * A bare "ranking" or "cohort" with no number attached leaks nothing on its own. This generalizes the exact
  * judgment `allowBareScoreTerm` already made for "score" to its siblings, rather than inventing a new one.
  */
 export const AMBIGUOUS_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS = [
-  "rewards",
-  "reward",
   "farming",
   "rankings",
   "ranking",
@@ -80,6 +78,10 @@ export const ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS = [
   "reward estimate",
   "estimated rewards",
   "estimated reward",
+  // #9702: a bare "reward"/"rewards" names the private concept regardless of repo -- moved here from the
+  // AMBIGUOUS tier so `allowBareScoreTerm` can never let it through (it was reaching allowlisted repos verbatim).
+  "rewards",
+  "reward",
   "private reviewability",
   "reviewability internals",
   "private scoreability",
@@ -233,17 +235,18 @@ export function shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset(env: Record<string, str
   return parsePublicScoreTermAllowedRepos(env.LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS).length === 0;
 }
 
-/** `allowBareScoreTerm` (#public-score-terms-scoping, default false = today's unchanged behavior): the bare
- *  "\bscore\w*\b" check exists to catch a LEAKED gittensor trust/reward VALUE, but it also matches the word
- *  "score" used as ordinary, already-public API vocabulary -- a real problem for a repo like metagraphed,
- *  whose own public schema legitimately has fields named `totalScore`/`credibility`/`baseTotalScore`. Any AI
- *  review discussing that code naturally uses the word "score" and, before this option existed, had its
- *  WHOLE narrative assessment silently discarded (observed live: metagraphed#8038 and recurring). The other,
- *  EXPLICIT-PHRASE entries in FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS ("trust score", "reward", "scoreability", ...)
- *  are NEVER skippable by this flag -- those name the actual private concept regardless of repo, so they stay
- *  enforced everywhere; only the over-broad bare-word check is ever relaxed, and only where a caller has
- *  positively confirmed (via a repo allowlist, never a blanket default) that "score" is safe public
- *  vocabulary for that repo. */
+/** `allowBareScoreTerm` (#public-score-terms-scoping, default false = today's unchanged behavior): swaps the
+ *  full {@link FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS} matching set for {@link ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS}
+ *  and skips the bare `\bscore\w*\b` check -- i.e. it relaxes the ENTIRE {@link AMBIGUOUS_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS}
+ *  tier (ordinary English that only carries gittensor meaning in context) along with a bare standalone "score".
+ *  The bare `\bscore\w*\b` check exists to catch a LEAKED trust/reward VALUE, but it also matches "score"/"scores"
+ *  used as ordinary, already-public API vocabulary -- a real problem for a repo like metagraphed whose own AI
+ *  review narratives naturally say "score" while discussing its public schema; before this option existed the
+ *  WHOLE narrative assessment was silently discarded (observed live: metagraphed#8038 and recurring). The
+ *  {@link ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS} tier -- every qualified private-value form, plus a bare
+ *  "reward"/"rewards" (#9702) -- is checked for EVERY repo, allowlisted or not, so the flag only ever relaxes the
+ *  ambiguous tier, and only where a caller has positively confirmed (via a repo allowlist, never a blanket
+ *  default) that this vocabulary is safe public language for that repo. */
 export function sanitizePublicComment(comment: string, options?: { allowBareScoreTerm?: boolean }): string {
   // #9432: an allowlisted repo exempts the AMBIGUOUS tier (ordinary English -- "reward", "ranking",
   // "reviewability", ...) along with bare "score"; the ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN tier is checked for every repo,
diff --git a/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts b/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts
index 6cf04cb7dc..3e1936c260 100644
--- a/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ describe("sanitizePublicComment — allowBareScoreTerm option (#public-score-ter
     }
   });
 
-  it("REGRESSION (#9432): an allowlisted repo keeps a sentence using ordinary review English — 'reviewability', 'ranking', 'reward'", () => {
+  it("REGRESSION (#9432): an allowlisted repo keeps a sentence using ordinary review English — 'reviewability', 'ranking', 'cohort'", () => {
     // These are words a safe review of this codebase's own gate code uses naturally. Before the tiering they
     // were matched unconditionally, so a sentence like "this improves reviewability" was dropped from the
     // published narrative for every repo, allowlisted or not.
@@ -436,13 +436,40 @@ describe("sanitizePublicComment — allowBareScoreTerm option (#public-score-ter
 
   it("SECURITY: a QUALIFIED private value stays blocked for an allowlisted repo even though its bare noun is exempt", () => {
     // The decisive property behind the tiering: a leaked value is always qualified, and the qualified form
-    // lives in the always-forbidden tier. "reward" is exempt; "reward estimate 12 TAO" is not.
+    // lives in the always-forbidden tier. "ranking" is exempt; "private ranking" is not.
     expect(() => sanitizePublicComment("the reward estimate is 12 TAO", { allowBareScoreTerm: true })).toThrow();
     expect(() => sanitizePublicComment("raw trust score 0.82 for this miner", { allowBareScoreTerm: true })).toThrow();
     expect(() => sanitizePublicComment("wallet 5Gv... and hotkey", { allowBareScoreTerm: true })).toThrow();
   });
 });
 
+describe("sanitizePublicComment — bare 'reward' is never skippable (#9702)", () => {
+  it("REGRESSION (#9702): a bare 'reward' is rejected even for an allowlisted repo — the doc's safety claim now holds in code", () => {
+    // Before #9702, allowBareScoreTerm swapped in ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN, which did not contain a bare "reward" --
+    // so `ghs_`-style installation-token adjacent gittensor "reward" language reached an allowlisted repo's
+    // public surface verbatim, contradicting the JSDoc that claimed "reward" was NEVER skippable.
+    expect(() => sanitizePublicComment("12 TAO reward for this", { allowBareScoreTerm: true })).toThrow(/reward/i);
+    expect(() => sanitizePublicComment("nice rewards here", { allowBareScoreTerm: true })).toThrow(/reward/i);
+  });
+
+  it("preserves the intended relaxation: a bare 'score' still passes for an allowlisted repo", () => {
+    expect(sanitizePublicComment("this scores well", { allowBareScoreTerm: true })).toBe("this scores well");
+  });
+
+  it("is not a behaviour swap: a bare 'reward' still throws with the flag off (unchanged default)", () => {
+    expect(() => sanitizePublicComment("12 TAO reward for this")).toThrow(/reward/i);
+  });
+
+  it("INVARIANT (#9702): 'reward'/'rewards' live in the always-forbidden tier and never in the ambiguous tier", () => {
+    const always = new Set<string>(ALWAYS_FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS);
+    const ambiguous = new Set<string>(AMBIGUOUS_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS);
+    for (const neverSkippable of ["reward", "rewards"]) {
+      expect(always.has(neverSkippable), neverSkippable).toBe(true);
+      expect(ambiguous.has(neverSkippable), neverSkippable).toBe(false);
+    }
+  });
+});
+
 describe("isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo (#public-score-terms-scoping)", () => {
   it("denies (fail-closed) when the env var is unset", () => {
     expect(isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo({}, "JSONbored/metagraphed")).toBe(false);