The following table lists context-sensitive words, which are words that are reserved in the specified language construct when the specified dialect is chosen.
Specifying individual directive options (such as, MF and OSVS) results in the accumulative adding of reserved words; that is, both MF and OSVS context-sensitive words are reserved. However, specifying DIALECT(xxx) will set only those reserved words in the specified dialect, and remove all others; for example, DIALECT"OSVS" sets the equivalent of OSVS, NOMF, NOVSC2, NOACU, etc...
Reserved words turned on by ILGEN or JVMGEN (that is, MGD) are a special case - these are words additionally required for either .NET COBOL or JVM COBOL that are not available in 'standard' dialects, and so ILGEN and a language directive/dialect would need to be set.
If a context-sensitive word is used where a context-sensitive word is permitted in the general format, the word is treated as a keyword; otherwise, it is treated as a user-defined word. The dialect codes have the same meanings as in the section Reserved Words Table
| Context-sensitive Word | Language Context or Construct | Dialect Code |
|---|---|---|
| 3-D | ACU | |
| ACTION | ACU | |
| ACTIVE-X | ACU | |
| ADJUSTABLE-COLUMNS | ACU | |
| ALIGNMENT | ACU | |
| ARITHMETIC | OPTIONS paragraph | I2 |
| ASSEMBLY | MGD | |
| ASYNC | METHOD-ID paragraph | MGD |
| ASYNC-VALUE | METHOD-ID paragraph | MGD |
| ASYNC-VOID | METHOD-ID paragraph | MGD |
| ATTRIBUTES | MF16, ENT | |
| AUTO | screen description entry | I2, XO, MF3, MS2, ACU |
| AUTO-DECIMAL | ACU | |
| AUTO-SPIN | ACU | |
| AX-EVENT-LIST | ACU | |
| BACKGROUND | ACU, RM | |
| BACKGROUND-COLOR | screen description entry | I2, XO, MF3, MS2, ACU |
| BACKGROUND-COLOUR | screen description entry | I2, MF3, ACU |
| BAR | ACU | |
| BELL | screen description entry and SET attribute statement | I2, XO, MF3, MS2, ACU |
| BINARY | MF1, 74, 85, I2, OS, DVS, VS(4), C370, MVS, DG, OS390, XO, RM, MS2, ENT, ACU | |
| BITMAP | ACU | |
| BITMAP-END | ACU | |
| BITMAP-HANDLE | ACU | |
| BITMAP-NUMBER | ACU | |
| BITMAP-RAW-HEIGHT | ACU | |
| BITMAP-RAW-WIDTH | ACU | |
| BITMAP-SCALE | ACU | |
| BITMAP-START | ACU | |
| BITMAP-TIMER | ACU | |
| BITMAP-TRAILING | ACU | |
| BITMAP-WIDTH | ACU | |
| BLINK | screen description entry and SET attribute statement | I2, XO, MF3, RM, MS2, ACU |
| BLOB | MF1, 74, 85, I2, OS, DVS, VS(4), C370, MVS, DG, OS390, XO, RM, MS2, ENT, ACU | |
| BLOB-FILE | MF1, 74, 85, I2, OS, DVS, VS(4), C370, MVS, DG, OS390, XO, RM, MS2, ENT, ACU |