diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 33c14d9..7d2432c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ const tokenizerConfig = await fetch(`https://huggingface.co/${modelId}/resolve/m
 const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
 
 // Tokenize text
-const tokens = tokenizer.tokenize('Hello World');   // ['Hello', 'ĠWorld']
-const encoded = tokenizer.encode('Hello World');    // [9906, 4435]
-const decoded = tokenizer.decode(encoded);          // 'Hello World'
+const tokens = tokenizer.tokenize('Hello World');  // ['Hello', 'ĠWorld']
+const encoded = tokenizer.encode('Hello World');   // { ids: [9906, 4435], tokens: ['Hello', 'ĠWorld'], attention_mask: [1, 1] }
+const decoded = tokenizer.decode(encoded.ids);     // 'Hello World'
 ```
 
 ## Requirements
diff --git a/src/core/Tokenizer.ts b/src/core/Tokenizer.ts
index 844086b..95946b0 100644
--- a/src/core/Tokenizer.ts
+++ b/src/core/Tokenizer.ts
@@ -128,19 +128,48 @@ class Tokenizer {
       this.config.do_lowercase_and_remove_accent ?? false;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Encodes a single text or a pair of texts using the model's tokenizer.
+   *
+   * @param text The text to encode.
+   * @param options An optional object containing the following properties:
+   * @returns An object containing the encoded text.
+   */
+
+  // Overload: when return_token_type_ids is explicitly true
+  public encode(
+    text: string,
+    options: EncodeOptions & { return_token_type_ids: true },
+  ): EncodingSingle & { token_type_ids: number[] };
+
+  // Overload: when return_token_type_ids is false/null or not provided
+  public encode(text: string, options?: EncodeOptions): EncodingSingle;
+
+  // Implementation
   public encode(
     text: string,
     {
-      text_pair,
-      add_special_tokens,
-      return_token_type_ids,
+      text_pair = null,
+      add_special_tokens = true,
+      return_token_type_ids = null,
     }: EncodeOptions = {},
-  ): Array<number> {
-    return this.encode_plus(text, {
+  ): EncodingSingle {
+    const { tokens, token_type_ids } = this.tokenize_helper(text, {
       text_pair,
       add_special_tokens,
-      return_token_type_ids,
-    }).input_ids;
+    });
+
+    const input_ids = this.model.convert_tokens_to_ids(tokens);
+    const result: EncodingSingle = {
+      ids: input_ids,
+      tokens,
+      attention_mask: new Array(input_ids.length).fill(1),
+    };
+
+    if (return_token_type_ids && token_type_ids) {
+      result.token_type_ids = token_type_ids;
+    }
+    return result;
   }
 
   public decode(
@@ -198,40 +227,6 @@ class Tokenizer {
     return this.tokenize_helper(text, { text_pair, add_special_tokens }).tokens;
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Encodes a single text or a pair of texts using the model's tokenizer.
-   *
-   * @param text The text to encode.
-   * @param options An optional object containing the following properties:
-   * @returns An object containing the encoded text.
-   * @private
-   */
-
-  private encode_plus(
-    text: string,
-    {
-      text_pair = null,
-      add_special_tokens = true,
-      return_token_type_ids = null,
-    }: EncodeOptions,
-  ): EncodingSingle {
-    const { tokens, token_type_ids } = this.tokenize_helper(text, {
-      text_pair,
-      add_special_tokens,
-    });
-
-    const input_ids = this.model.convert_tokens_to_ids(tokens);
-    const result: EncodingSingle = {
-      input_ids,
-      attention_mask: new Array(input_ids.length).fill(1),
-    };
-
-    if (return_token_type_ids && token_type_ids) {
-      result.token_type_ids = token_type_ids;
-    }
-    return result;
-  }
-
   private encode_text(text: string | null): string[] | null {
     if (text === null) {
       return null;
diff --git a/src/static/types.ts b/src/static/types.ts
index 78e77fb..f86e7ee 100644
--- a/src/static/types.ts
+++ b/src/static/types.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ export type DataType =
   | "int4";
 
 export interface EncodingSingle {
-  input_ids: number[];
+  ids: number[];
+  tokens: string[];
   attention_mask: number[];
   token_type_ids?: number[];
 }
diff --git a/tests/bundle.test.ts b/tests/bundle.test.ts
index dcee92b..e39b62b 100644
--- a/tests/bundle.test.ts
+++ b/tests/bundle.test.ts
@@ -14,14 +14,21 @@ const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
 // Tokenize text
 const tokens = tokenizer.tokenize('Hello World');
 const encoded = tokenizer.encode('Hello World');
-const decoded = tokenizer.decode(encoded);
+const decoded = tokenizer.decode(encoded.ids);
 
 console.log(tokens);
 console.log(encoded);
 console.log(decoded);
 `;
 
-const TARGET_OUTPUT = "[ '▁Hello', '▁World' ]\n[ 1, 15043, 2787 ]\n<s> Hello World\n";
+const TARGET_OUTPUT = `[ '▁Hello', '▁World' ]
+{
+  ids: [ 1, 15043, 2787 ],
+  tokens: [ '<s>', '▁Hello', '▁World' ],
+  attention_mask: [ 1, 1, 1 ]
+}
+<s> Hello World
+`;
 
 const wrap_async_iife = (code: string) => `(async function() { ${code} })();`;
 
diff --git a/tests/edgeCases.test.ts b/tests/edgeCases.test.ts
index e05273f..e5280ef 100644
--- a/tests/edgeCases.test.ts
+++ b/tests/edgeCases.test.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ describe("Edge cases", () => {
     const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
 
     let text = String.prototype.repeat.call("a", 50000);
-    let token_ids = tokenizer.encode(text);
-    expect(token_ids).toEqual([101, 100, 102]);
+    let { ids } = tokenizer.encode(text);
+    expect(ids).toEqual([101, 100, 102]);
   }, 5000); // NOTE: 5 seconds
 
   it("Special/added tokens with earlier partial matches", async () => {
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ describe("Edge cases", () => {
     const { tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig } = await fetchConfigById(modelId);
     const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
     {
-      let token_ids = tokenizer.encode("\n", { add_special_tokens: false });
-      expect(token_ids).toEqual([108]);
+      let { ids } = tokenizer.encode("\n", { add_special_tokens: false });
+      expect(ids).toEqual([108]);
     }
     {
-      let token_ids = tokenizer.encode("\n\n", { add_special_tokens: false });
-      expect(token_ids).toEqual([109]); // Should not be [108, 108]
+      let { ids } = tokenizer.encode("\n\n", { add_special_tokens: false });
+      expect(ids).toEqual([109]); // Should not be [108, 108]
     }
   }, 60_000);
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ describe("Edge cases", () => {
     const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
 
     let text = "hello world!";
-    let token_ids = tokenizer.encode(text);
-    expect(token_ids).toEqual([128000, 15339, 1917, 0]);
+    let { ids } = tokenizer.encode(text);
+    expect(ids).toEqual([128000, 15339, 1917, 0]);
   }, 5000); // NOTE: 5 seconds
 });
diff --git a/tests/models/llama/llama.test.ts b/tests/models/llama/llama.test.ts
index 307628c..8186914 100644
--- a/tests/models/llama/llama.test.ts
+++ b/tests/models/llama/llama.test.ts
@@ -49,14 +49,14 @@ describe("hard-coded", () => {
           const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
 
           for (const [text, expected] of Object.entries(data)) {
-            const token_ids = tokenizer.encode(text, {
+            const encoded = tokenizer.encode(text, {
               add_special_tokens: false,
             });
-            expect(token_ids).toEqual(expected);
+            expect(encoded.ids).toEqual(expected);
 
             // If reversible, test that decoding produces the original text
             if (reversible) {
-              const decoded = tokenizer.decode(token_ids);
+              const decoded = tokenizer.decode(encoded.ids);
               expect(decoded).toEqual(text);
             }
           }
diff --git a/tests/models/t5/t5.test.ts b/tests/models/t5/t5.test.ts
index 2743df4..30c4d37 100644
--- a/tests/models/t5/t5.test.ts
+++ b/tests/models/t5/t5.test.ts
@@ -38,14 +38,14 @@ describe("hard-coded", () => {
           const tokenizer = new Tokenizer(tokenizerJson, tokenizerConfig);
 
           for (const [text, expected] of Object.entries(data)) {
-            const token_ids = tokenizer.encode(text, {
+            const encoded = tokenizer.encode(text, {
               add_special_tokens: false,
             });
-            expect(token_ids).toEqual(expected);
+            expect(encoded.ids).toEqual(expected);
 
             // If reversible, test that decoding produces the original text
             if (reversible) {
-              const decoded = tokenizer.decode(token_ids);
+              const decoded = tokenizer.decode(encoded.ids);
               expect(decoded).toEqual(text);
             }
           }
diff --git a/tests/tokenizers.test.ts b/tests/tokenizers.test.ts
index 0e4ab24..387aacc 100644
--- a/tests/tokenizers.test.ts
+++ b/tests/tokenizers.test.ts
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ describe("Tokenizers (model-specific)", () => {
           for (const [testName, testCase] of Object.entries(config.default[modelId])) {
             test(testName, () => {
               if (testCase.ids) {
-                const ids = tokenizer.encode(testCase.text, {
+                const encoded = tokenizer.encode(testCase.text, {
                   text_pair: testCase.text_pair,
                 });
-                expect(ids).toEqual(testCase.ids);
+                expect(encoded.ids).toEqual(testCase.ids);
 
                 if (testCase.decoded) {
                   const decoded = tokenizer.decode(testCase.ids);