Microsoft Word’s spell checker is an incredibly powerful tool for catching typos, but it doesn’t know every word in existence. If you frequently use industry-specific jargon, unique brand names, medical terminology, or unusual surnames, Word will aggressively underline them with a squiggly red line.
Constantly right-clicking to “Ignore All” is frustrating and time-consuming. Instead, you can add these specific words to Word’s custom dictionary so the spell checker finally accepts them as correct.
In this guide, you will learn how to add custom words to the Microsoft Word dictionary.
How to Add a Word While Typing
The fastest and most common way to add a word to the dictionary is to do it exactly when the spell checker flags it.
- When you type a word that Word doesn’t recognize, it will appear with a red squiggly underline.
- Right-click directly on the underlined word.
- A context menu will appear offering suggested spelling corrections. Look past these options.
- Click on Add to Dictionary.
The red underline will immediately disappear, and Microsoft Word will never flag that specific spelling as an error again, even in completely new documents.
How to Add Multiple Words Manually in Settings
If you have a whole list of terms to add (like a new client’s product line), you can type them directly into the dictionary settings rather than waiting for them to be flagged.
- Open Microsoft Word and click on the File tab in the top left corner.
- Click on Options at the bottom of the left sidebar.
- In the Word Options window, select Proofing from the left menu.
- Under the section titled “When correcting spelling in Microsoft Office programs,” click the Custom Dictionaries… button.
- Make sure
CUSTOM.DIC(the default dictionary) is selected, and click the Edit Word List… button. - In the “Word(s):” text box at the top, type the word you want to add.
- Click the Add button.
- Repeat this for as many words as you need. When finished, click OK on all open dialog boxes.
If you ever accidentally add a misspelled word, you can return to this same Edit Word List menu, highlight the incorrect word, and click Delete to remove it.