Spell Check in Excel - 4 Methods

This is an overview:

Spell check in Excel

Download Practice Workbook

Download the practice workbook.

Spell Check.xlsm

1. Using the Spelling Command to Check Spelling

Check Spelling Mistakes in a Single Cell

There’s a misspelled word in B5:B8.

Go to the Review tab > Spelling.
In the dialog box, select the word and click Change.
If the suggestion is not appropriate, click Ignore Once.
In the message box, click OK.

Select the appropriate word and then click on Change

Checking a Range of Cells

There are misspelled words in B5:B8.

Go to the Review tab > Spelling.
In the dialog box, select the word and click Change.
In the message box, click OK.

Checking a Range of Cells

Spell Check Inside a Formula

Select the cell and double-click it to access the editor mode.
Select the text outside the functions.
Go to the Review tab > Spelling.
Press Enter.
Click OK. Repeat the same process for the rest of the words.

Spell Check Inside Formula

Check Specific Worksheets for Spelling Mistakes

To check all misspellings in a worksheet, click the select all icon at the left most corner of the sheet.
Go to the Review tab > Spelling.
In the dialog box, select the word and click Change.

Check Specific Worksheets for Spelling Mistakes

Check the Entire Workbook for Spelling Mistakes

Right-click any sheet name in the workbook, and click Select All Sheets.

Check Entire Workbook for Spelling Mistakes

Go to Review > Spelling.

click on Yes

In the dialog box, select the word and click Change.
Repeat the procedure for every misspelled word in the workbook.

use spell check in Excel

Method 2 – Applying Keyboard Shortcuts to Check Spelling

There is a misspelled word in B5:B8.

Press F7 to open the Spelling English dialog box.
Select the word and click Change.
In the message box, click OK.

Applying Keyboard Shortcut to spell check

Method 3 – Embedding a VBA Code to Check Spelling in Excel

Go to the Developer tab and click Visual Basic. (Enable the Developer tab or press ‘Alt+F11’ to open the Visual Basic Editor).

select developer tab

Go to the Insert tab. Click Module.

click on module to spell check

Select the module and enter the following code.

Sub Spell_Grammar_Highlight()
Dim X As Integer
X = 0
For Each cll In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
If Not Application.CheckSpelling(Word:=cll.Text) Then
cll.Interior.Color = RGB(255, 255, 0)
X = X + 1
End If
Next cll
If X > 0 Then
MsgBox X & " cells with spelling and grammar Mistakes are Identified and Highlighted "
Else
MsgBox "All Good, No Corrections Needed."
End If
End Sub

Save the code.
Close the Visual Basic window.
Press Alt+F8.
In the Macro dialog box, select the Macro name.
Click Run.

select macro name

Cells with misspelled words are highlighted in yellow.

Click OK.

spelling mistakes are highlighted

Open the visual basic and a new module window. Enter the following code:

Sub Spelling_Grammar_Check_activesheet()
ActiveSheet.CheckSpelling
End Sub

Save the code.
Close the Visual Basic window.
Press Alt+F8.
In the Macro dialog box, select the Macro name.
Click Run.

select macro name to spell check

In the suggestion box, select the word and click Change.

click on Change

After all words in the range are replaced with the correct word, the final message will be shown.

show the output of spell check

Method 4 – Correcting Spelling and Grammar While Typing

Enable the Autocorrect feature.
Click File.

click on File option

Click Options.

select options

In the Excel Options window, select AutoCorrect in Proofing.

click on AutoCorrect Options from the Proofing

In the Autocorrect English options window, check the autocorrect options.
Click OK.

choose autocorrect options

How to Add Words to a Custom Dictionary in Excel

Click File.
Select Options and choose Excel Options.
Click AutoCorrect Options in Proofing.
Select Custom Dictionary.

Click on AutoCorrect Options under Proofing

In the Custom Dictionary dialog box, you can see all the dictionaries in use.
To add a new word to the dictionary, click a dictionary and click Add.
To add a whole new dictionary, click New.
Otherwise, click OK.

custom dictionaries

To add a new word, click Edit word list.

Additional Grammar Resources in Excel

1. Thesaurus

To get the meaning of some words, hover over the word.
Go to Review > Thesaurus: the meaning and parts of speech are displayed in the side panel.

check Thesaurus