David,
But what I did was I have to type it only when I enabled the Clip and Invert Mask.
You can just type it, group, and then Make Opacity Mask using the flyout option.
Or type it, select all instances of type and Object>Compound Path>Make, and then Object>Clipping Mask>Make, just as Steve suggested (you can also use an Opacity Mask, but this case clearly calls for the simpler procedure of a Clipping Mask).
In either case, you may include other artwork (in the Group/Compound Path) before applying the Clipping/Opacity Mask (if you use Compound Path with overlapping objects, you may need to adjust the winding rule to avoid gaps at overlaps, depending on the directions of the different paths).