Gonna yell about it again...
If you do not absolutely need Word (for work or school or a functionality that exists literally nowhere else), just stop using it.
For a 1:1 Word replacement, I'd always recommend LibreOffice. There's also a version of OpenOffice still around, though it updates at a slower pace.
If you're a fiction writer and would like to switch to a dedicated novel writing software, the free options tend to be a bit limited. However, there is SmartEdit Writer, which looks a lit like a slimmed-down Scrivener (which is pretty much the writing app, but has a one-time cost).
Most people don't need Word. It's just what's familiar. And even there, LibreOffice is very similar in design. It will also generally read your Word docs out of the box. The switch really isn't hard, I promise.