diff --git a/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/config.py b/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/config.py
index ab45f7ee..05c1fe51 100644
--- a/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/config.py
+++ b/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/config.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from typing import Optional, Union
 from ovos_config.config import Configuration
-from ovos_spec_tools import standardize_lang, lang_distance
+from ovos_spec_tools import standardize_lang, lang_matches
 from ovos_utils.log import LOG
 from ovos_plugin_manager.utils import load_plugin, find_plugins, PluginTypes, PluginConfigTypes
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def get_valid_plugin_configs(configs: dict, lang: str,
         # Check other dialects of the requested language
         base_lang = standardize_lang(lang)
         for language, confs in configs.items():
-            if lang_distance(base_lang, language) < 10:
+            if lang_matches(base_lang, language):
                 for config in confs:
                     try:
                         if language != lang:
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ def get_plugin_language_configs(plug_type: PluginTypes, lang: str,
         if include_dialects:
             macro = standardize_lang(lang)
             for language, configs in plug_configs.items():
-                if lang_distance(macro, language) < 10:
+                if lang_matches(macro, language):
                     plugin_configs[plug] += configs
         elif lang in plug_configs:
             plugin_configs[plug] += plug_configs[lang]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 53bcd230..4683eeb8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "combo_lock~=0.3",
     "requests~=2.32",
     "quebra_frases",
-    "ovos-spec-tools[langcodes]>=0.0.1a2",
+    "ovos-spec-tools[langcodes]>=1.6.1a1",
     "importlib_metadata",
     "setuptools; python_version>='3.12'",
     "standard-aifc; python_version>='3.13'",
diff --git a/test/unittests/test_lang_distance_boundary.py b/test/unittests/test_lang_distance_boundary.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..39ccbc88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unittests/test_lang_distance_boundary.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+"""The language-distance boundary used to select dialect plugin configs."""
+import unittest
+
+from ovos_plugin_manager.utils.config import get_valid_plugin_configs
+
+MACROLANGUAGE_PAIRS = [("arz", "ar"), ("wuu", "zh")]
+REGIONAL_PAIRS = [("ar-SA", "ar"), ("en-AU", "en-GB"), ("pt-BR", "pt-PT")]
+UNRELATED_PAIRS = [("en", "zh"), ("es", "fr"), ("fr-CH", "de-CH"), ("af", "nl")]
+
+
+def _selected(requested: str, available: str) -> bool:
+    """True when the config filed under `available` is offered for `requested`."""
+    configs = {available: [{"module": "test", "priority": 50}]}
+    return bool(get_valid_plugin_configs(configs, requested,
+                                         include_dialects=True))
+
+
+class TestValidPluginConfigLangBoundary(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_macrolanguage_config_is_offered(self):
+        for member, macro in MACROLANGUAGE_PAIRS:
+            with self.subTest(member=member):
+                self.assertTrue(_selected(member, macro))
+
+    def test_regional_config_is_offered(self):
+        for requested, available in REGIONAL_PAIRS:
+            with self.subTest(requested=requested):
+                self.assertTrue(_selected(requested, available))
+
+    def test_unrelated_config_is_not_offered(self):
+        for requested, available in UNRELATED_PAIRS:
+            with self.subTest(requested=requested):
+                self.assertFalse(_selected(requested, available))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()