1. A computer-implemented method comprising: accessing a directory of entities that indicates, for each entity, (i) a reference name of the entity, (ii) an entity type associated with the entity, and (iii) a geographic location associated with the entity; obtaining, for each of one or more of the entities, a set of one or more canonical names for the entity, wherein the set of canonical names for the entity includes the reference name for the entity; obtaining, for each of the one or more entities, a phonetic representation of each canonical name of the set of canonical names for the entity; selecting a particular geographic area and a particular entity type; selecting entities from the directory that (i) have an entity type that matches the particular entity type, and (ii) have a geographic location that matches the particular geographic area; generating, for each of the selected entities, a record in an entity type-specific, geo-localized entity database for the particular geographic area, wherein, for each of the selected entities, the record indicates at least (i) a reference name of the selected entity, (ii) a respective phonetic representation of each canonical name of the set of canonical names for the selected entity; receiving an utterance that includes (i) a first term that indicates the particular entity type, (ii) a second term that indicates an entity name, and (iii) a third term that is associated with the particular geographic area; determining a candidate transcription of the utterance, the candidate transcription including a type term corresponding to the first term, a name term corresponding to the second term, and a geographic term corresponding to the third term; determining that the candidate transcription includes (i) the type term, (ii) the name term, and (iii) the geographic term; in response to determining that the candidate transcription includes (i) the type term, (ii) the name term, and (iii) the geographic term, determining that, among the phonetic representations indicated in the records in the entity-type specific, geo-localized entity database for the particular geographic area, a phonetic representation of the second term matches a particular phonetic representation of a particular canonical name of a set of canonical names associated with a particular entity; and in response to determining that, among the phonetic representations indicated in the records in the entity-type specific, geo-localized entity database for the particular geographic area, the phonetic representation of the second term matches the particular phonetic representation of the particular canonical name of the set of canonical names associated with the particular entity, outputting the reference name associated with the particular entity as a transcription of the second term.