diff --git a/parlai/agents/drqa/drqa.py b/parlai/agents/drqa/drqa.py
index f8d52dfc847..2aacd12431f 100644
--- a/parlai/agents/drqa/drqa.py
+++ b/parlai/agents/drqa/drqa.py
@@ -147,7 +147,9 @@ def _init_from_saved(self, fname):
             map_location=lambda storage, loc: storage)
 
         # TODO expand dict and embeddings for new data
-        self.word_dict = saved_params['word_dict']
+        loaded_words = saved_params['word_dict']
+        self.word_dict.copy_dict(loaded_words)
+
         self.feature_dict = saved_params['feature_dict']
         self.state_dict = saved_params['state_dict']
         config.override_args(self.opt, saved_params['config'])
diff --git a/parlai/core/dict.py b/parlai/core/dict.py
index 021a863b62e..517fd424523 100644
--- a/parlai/core/dict.py
+++ b/parlai/core/dict.py
@@ -251,6 +251,14 @@ def __setitem__(self, key, value):
             self.tok2ind[key] = index
             self.ind2tok[index] = key
 
+    def copy_dict(self, dictionary):
+        """Overwrite own state with any state in the other dictionary.
+        This allows loading of the contents of another dictionary while keeping
+        the current dictionary version.
+        """
+        for k, v in vars(dictionary).items():
+            setattr(self, k, v)
+
     def freqs(self):
         return self.freq