diff --git a/fuxictr/preprocess/tokenizer.py b/fuxictr/preprocess/tokenizer.py
index ce669c61..da61cbf8 100644
--- a/fuxictr/preprocess/tokenizer.py
+++ b/fuxictr/preprocess/tokenizer.py
@@ -142,9 +142,11 @@ def update_vocab(self, word_list):
             word_list (iterable): Words to add.
         """
         new_words = 0
-        for word in word_list:
+        next_id = max(vocab.values()) + 1 if (vocab := self.vocab) else 1
+        # sort to guarantee the determinism of index order for new words
+        for word in sorted(word_list):
             if word not in self.vocab:
-                self.vocab[word] = self.vocab.get("__OOV__", 0) + new_words
+                self.vocab[word] = next_id + new_words
                 new_words += 1
         if new_words > 0:
             self.vocab["__OOV__"] = self.vocab_size()
@@ -160,7 +162,7 @@ def encode_meta(self, series):
         """
         word_counts = dict(series.value_counts())
         if len(self.vocab) == 0:
-            self.build_vocab(word_counts)
+            self.build_vocab(Counter(word_counts))
         else: # for considering meta data in test data
             self.update_vocab(word_counts.keys())
         series = series.map(lambda x: self.vocab.get(x, self.vocab["__OOV__"]))
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/preprocess/test_tokenizer.py b/tests/unit_tests/preprocess/test_tokenizer.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6fe93889
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/preprocess/test_tokenizer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# =========================================================================
+# Copyright (C) 2024. The FuxiCTR Library. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+# =========================================================================
+
+import sys
+sys.path.insert(0, "../../")
+
+import pandas as pd
+import pytest
+from fuxictr.preprocess.tokenizer import Tokenizer
+
+
+class TestEncodeMeta:
+    """Regression tests for issue #164.
+
+    Lazy tokenization of meta-type features must keep a consistent global
+    vocabulary across blocks: no crash on the first call, and new words seen
+    in later blocks get IDs that continue after the initial vocabulary.
+    """
+
+    def test_encode_meta_builds_vocab_on_first_call(self):
+        """First call must not crash (previously: dict passed to build_vocab
+        which calls .most_common() -> AttributeError)."""
+        tok = Tokenizer(min_freq=1, remap=True)
+        s = pd.Series(["a", "b", "a", "c", "d", "a"])
+        out = tok.encode_meta(s)
+        assert sorted(out) == [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4]  # a=1 (3x), others 2-4
+        assert len(tok.vocab) == 6                # 4 words + PAD + OOV
+        assert tok.vocab["__PAD__"] == 0
+        assert tok.vocab["__OOV__"] == len(tok.vocab) - 1
+
+    def test_encode_meta_new_words_get_contiguous_ids(self):
+        """Words first seen in a later block must get IDs that continue the
+        initial vocabulary (no collision with existing IDs or __OOV__)."""
+        tok = Tokenizer(min_freq=1, remap=True)
+        tok.encode_meta(pd.Series(["a", "b", "a", "c"]))        # block 1
+        out2 = tok.encode_meta(pd.Series(["d", "a", "e"]))     # block 2
+
+        # d < e alphabetically, so d gets the lower ID (deterministic)
+        assert list(out2) == [5, 1, 6]
+        real_ids = sorted(v for k, v in tok.vocab.items()
+                          if k not in ("__PAD__", "__OOV__"))
+        assert real_ids == [1, 2, 3, 5, 6]   # contiguous after initial vocab
+        assert "d" in tok.vocab and "e" in tok.vocab
+        assert tok.vocab["__OOV__"] == 7     # still points past max id
+
+    def test_encode_meta_new_words_added_to_vocab(self):
+        """Meta features use incremental vocab update: unseen tokens in
+        later blocks are added to the vocabulary (not mapped to OOV).
+        This is by design for meta-type features like group_id."""
+        tok = Tokenizer(min_freq=1, remap=True)
+        tok.encode_meta(pd.Series(["a", "b", "a"]))  # vocab: a=1, b=2
+        out = tok.encode_meta(pd.Series(["a", "z"]))  # z is new -> added
+        assert list(out) == [1, 4]   # z gets next available ID (3 was __OOV__)
+        assert "z" in tok.vocab
+        assert tok.vocab["z"] == 4
+        assert tok.vocab["__OOV__"] == 5  # OOV moved past z