Check spelling and grammar - Help and How-to

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Check spelling and grammar

Applies to: Microsoft Office Word 2003

Some of the content in this topic may not be applicable to some languages.

By default, Microsoft Word checks spelling and grammar automatically as you type, using wavy red underlines to indicate possible spelling problems and wavy green underlines to indicate possible grammatical problems.

You can also check spelling and grammar all at once.

Show Check spelling and grammar automatically as you type

Make sure automatic spelling and grammar checking are turned on.
How?
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
2. Select the Check spelling as you type and Check grammar as you type check boxes.
Type in the document.
Right-click a word with a wavy red or green underline, and then select the command or the spelling alternative you want.

Show Tips

You can use AutoCorrect to automatically correct spelling as you type, without having to confirm each correction. For example, if you type definately and then type a space or other punctuation, AutoCorrect automatically replaces it with "definitely."
If Word finds a lowercase word, for example "london," that is listed in the main dictionary only with a different capitalization ("London"), the capitalization may be flagged or corrected automatically as you type. You can specify that Word not flag this capitalization by adding the lowercase form to a custom dictionary.

Show Check spelling and grammar all at once

This method is useful if you want to postpone proofing a document until after you finish editing it. You can check for possible spelling and grammatical problems, and then confirm each correction.

Note By default, Word checks both spelling and grammar. If you want to check spelling only, click Options on the Tools menu, click the Spelling & Grammar tab, clear the Check grammar with spelling check box, and then click OK.

On the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.), click Spelling and Grammar .
When Word finds a possible spelling or grammatical problem, make your changes in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box.

Show Tips

You can correct spelling and grammar directly in the document while the Spelling and Grammar dialog box is open. Type your correction in the document, and then click Resume in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box.
For a detailed explanation of a grammar flag, click Explain in the Spelling and Grammar dialog box.

Note If you mistype a word but the result is not a misspelling (for example, "from" instead of "form" or "there" instead of "their"), the spelling checker will not flag the word.