diff --git a/.github/workflows/python.yml b/.github/workflows/python.yml
index ad739eae9..9cb1a26f5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python.yml
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ jobs:
         if: steps.cached-node_modules.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
         run: yarn --frozen-lockfile
 
-      - name: Set up Python 3.11
+      - name: Set up Python 3.12
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ jobs:
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip wheel --progress-bar off
           pip install -r requirements.txt --progress-bar off
 
+      - name: Download NLTK dependencies
+        run: python scripts/nltk-downloads.py
+
       - name: Run Lints
         run: ruff check .
 
diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index 7fe14d25f..c2771bec9 100644
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ django-querycount==0.8.3
 profanity==1.1
 py-avataaars==1.1.2
 mozilla-django-oidc==4.0.1
-nltk==3.8.1
+nltk==3.9.1
 sql_metadata==2.12.0
 gunicorn==23.0.0
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 0bf5405e0..6c203bc8e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -836,9 +836,9 @@ multidict==6.0.5 \
     #   -r requirements.in
     #   aiohttp
     #   yarl
-nltk==3.8.1 \
-    --hash=sha256:1834da3d0682cba4f2cede2f9aad6b0fafb6461ba451db0efb6f9c39798d64d3 \
-    --hash=sha256:fd5c9109f976fa86bcadba8f91e47f5e9293bd034474752e92a520f81c93dda5
+nltk==3.9.1 \
+    --hash=sha256:4fa26829c5b00715afe3061398a8989dc643b92ce7dd93fb4585a70930d168a1 \
+    --hash=sha256:87d127bd3de4bd89a4f81265e5fa59cb1b199b27440175370f7417d2bc7ae868
     # via -r requirements.in
 optisorl==0.2.1 \
     --hash=sha256:4b18d8a270075aa0fe9588790162c03a80e822237e3346a2817d6e82236f1a49 \
diff --git a/scripts/nltk-downloads.py b/scripts/nltk-downloads.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a59cec6d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/nltk-downloads.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Run this script to download the necessary NLTK data files
+import nltk
+
+nltk.download("wordnet")