Spell check not working in Microsoft Word: how to fix it

Applies to: Word for Microsoft 365 (Windows and Mac), Word 2024, Word 2021, Word 2019 and Word 2016. Menu paths below are for Windows; the Mac note is in section 1.

Match the symptom to the fix

Word’s spell checker rarely breaks outright. Far more often a setting tells it to skip a document, a passage or a language. The pattern of what is and isn’t checked points to the cause, so start here.

What you see	Likely cause	Go to
No red underlines anywhere, but F7 still finds errors	Live checking is off	Section 1
One document has no underlines, others are fine	A proofing exception for that file	Section 2
Some paragraphs are checked, others are skipped	Text marked “Do not check spelling or grammar”	Section 3
Correct words flagged, or US spellings marked wrong	Wrong language or regional variant	Section 4
Word says proofing tools are missing for a language	Language not added or not installed	Section 5
Language keeps switching as you type	Detect language automatically	Section 6
A known typo is never flagged	Ignored word or custom dictionary entry	Section 7

1. Turn on checking as you type

If errors only appear when you open the Editor pane or press F7, the checker works but live marking is switched off. Microsoft’s spellcheck troubleshooting page lists this first because it looks exactly like a broken checker.

1. Select File, then Options. If you don’t see Options, select More… first.
2. Select Proofing.
3. Under the section for correcting spelling and grammar in Word, select Check spelling as you type and Mark grammar errors as you type.
4. Select OK. Underlines should come back once Word rechecks the document.

On a Mac, the equivalent settings are usually found under Word > Preferences > Spelling and Grammar (labels vary slightly between versions). Whichever platform you use, press F7 at any time to run a full manual check.

2. Remove the document’s proofing exception

Word can hide spelling and grammar marks for one file while leaving every other document alone. The setting travels with the file, so a document you received from someone else may arrive with proofing hidden.

1. Open the affected document and go to File > Options > Proofing.
2. Scroll to Exceptions for and check that the drop-down shows this document’s name.
3. Clear Hide spelling errors in this document only and Hide grammar errors in this document only.
4. Select OK.

If the drop-down is set to All New Documents and those boxes are selected, every new file starts with proofing hidden. Clear them there too unless you hid errors on purpose.

3. Clear “Do not check spelling or grammar”

When Word checks some paragraphs and skips others, the skipped text almost always carries the Do not check spelling or grammar flag. It is a language property attached to the text itself, so it comes along when you paste from web pages, email or another document, and it can also be built into a paragraph style.

1. Select the skipped text, or press Ctrl + A to select the whole document.
2. On the Review tab, select Language > Language > Set Proofing Language.
3. Choose the language the text is written in.
4. Clear Do not check spelling or grammar and select OK.

If the box shows a filled square rather than a check mark, part of your selection has the flag and part doesn’t. Select it once to check it, then again to clear it for all of the text.

Problems that return after every paste usually come from formatting carried in from the source. Pasting with Keep Text Only drops that formatting; our guide to copy and paste not working in Word covers the paste options in more detail. If one style keeps reintroducing the flag, open the style’s Modify dialog, choose Format > Language and clear the box there.

4. Set the right proofing language

Word checks each piece of text against the dictionary for the language it is tagged with. If US English text is tagged as English (United Kingdom), words like color and organize get flagged. If it’s tagged as French, almost every English word looks wrong, or Word may skip it.

To fix the whole document and future documents built on the Normal template:

1. Select all text with Ctrl + A.
2. Go to Review > Language > Language > Set Proofing Language.
3. Select the correct language and variant, for example English (United States), and clear Do not check spelling or grammar.
4. Select Set As Default, then Yes when Word asks about the Normal template.

Set As Default only affects new documents based on Normal. Existing files keep their own tagging, so you still need to select the text and set the language in each of them. If a document mixes languages, select each passage and tag it separately.

5. Add the language or its proofing tools

Word can only check a language that Office knows you edit in. If a language isn’t enabled as an editing language, or its proofing tools aren’t installed, text in that language goes unchecked and you may see a notice that proofing tools are missing.

1. In Word, go to File > Options > Language and add the language under the Office authoring and proofing languages list.
2. If the language shows that proofing isn’t installed, install the matching Language Accessory Pack for Office from Microsoft, then restart Word.
3. Tag the text with that language as described in section 4.

Microsoft’s page on checking spelling in multiple languages also notes that a language missing from the dictionary language list has the same root cause: it isn’t enabled, or its pack isn’t installed.

6. Stop automatic language detection guessing wrong

With Detect language automatically turned on in the Set Proofing Language dialog, Word tries to recognize the language of each passage. Detection needs several full sentences, and it only chooses between languages listed above the double line in that dialog. Short phrases, product names and words shared between languages can trip it up, so one English paragraph suddenly gets checked as Spanish.

Either write a few more sentences so detection has something to work with, or clear Detect language automatically and set the language by hand. A related option, Automatically switch keyboard to match language of surrounding text under File > Options > Advanced, can change your keyboard layout as you move between passages and produce typos. Turn it off if your keys start typing the wrong characters.

7. Ignored words and custom dictionary mistakes

If one particular misspelling is never flagged, you may have told Word to accept it. There are two ways that happens.

• You chose Ignore or Ignore All earlier. Word remembers that for the document. Go to File > Options > Proofing and select Recheck Document, then Yes at the warning. Ignored words and grammar issues are checked again.
• You added the typo to a custom dictionary. Any word in a custom dictionary counts as correct. Under File > Options > Proofing, select Custom Dictionaries, pick the dictionary, select Edit Word List and delete the wrong entry.

Recheck Document resets choices for the open file only. The custom dictionary is shared across Office apps, so a bad entry removed there stops hiding the typo everywhere.

8. Still not working: add-ins and Office repair

If every setting above is correct and Word still won’t check anything, look outside the proofing options. Third-party add-ins, such as grammar tools, reference managers and PDF plug-ins, sometimes hook into the same text that Word checks.

1. Close Word, then hold Ctrl while you open it and confirm you want Safe Mode. Add-ins don’t load in Safe Mode.
2. Type a misspelled word. If it gets underlined now, an add-in is likely involved. Go to File > Options > Add-ins, choose COM Add-ins in the Manage box, select Go, and turn add-ins off one at a time.
3. If Safe Mode makes no difference, run a Quick Repair, then an Online Repair if needed. Our guide on how to repair Microsoft Office walks through both.

Avoid registry edits to proofing keys unless Microsoft support asks you to make them. Repair fixes damaged proofing files without that risk. If Word freezes or crashes during these steps, see Word not responding first.

Word on the web and Teams use their own checkers with separate settings. If spelling fails in Teams messages too, our guide to spell check on Teams covers that side. For proofing shortcuts and other time-savers, see MS Word tips and tricks.

Related guides

• Copy and paste not working in Word: how to fix it
• How to repair Microsoft Office (Quick Repair and Online Repair)
• Word not responding: how to fix it on Windows
• Spell check on Teams: turn it on, add languages and fix it
• MS Word tips and tricks: 17 ways to work faster in Word

Official sources

• Microsoft Support: Spellcheck not working, or only working on part of your document?
• Microsoft Support: Check spelling and grammar in Office
• Microsoft Support: Troubleshoot checking spelling and grammar in multiple languages