Select a word/phrase, right-click then choose ‘Language’ ‘Set Proofing Language’ then ‘Do not check spelling and grammar’. Similarly you could select a phrase and mark it as exempt from spelling checking. Right-click on any misspelled word (with the red squiggly line) and choose either ‘Ignore’ or ‘Ignore All’.

You can mark any word or phrase as exempt from spelling checking. However they are widely given as ‘fixes’ for Word’s shortcomings so we’ll mention them here. Frankly they aren’t very satisfactory and we’re reluctant to even mention them. You should be able to add ‘Paw Paw’ and ‘Mornington Crescent’ etc to the Word custom dictionary (Word 2007/2010: Options | Proofing | Custom Dictionaries or in earlier versions Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar | Custom Dictionaries).Īlas while Word will let you enter multiple words as an entry, it doesn’t make any difference to what Word marks as a spelling error. Latin phrases like ‘annus horribilis’ you might like to add as a phrase but either of the word used alone triggers a spelling error. For example ‘Mornington’ is usually a spelling error except when you type ‘Mornington Crescent’ (a London tube station and long-standing BBC Radio 4 joke). There are also words which should be marked as a spelling error except when combined with another word. ‘Wagga Wagga’ (a place name in Australia) and ‘Walla Walla’ in the USA are other examples. The phrase ‘Paw Paw ‘ isn’t a spelling error but Word will mark it as one. Repeating words are the most obvious example. There are many situations where you’d like Word to mark a word as incorrectly spelled but consider it OK when next to another word. You’ll see plenty of lame workarounds online but rarely will you see an admission of this glaring limitation in Word. That’s a simple but sad fact that Microsoft doesn’t like to talk about. Anything that’s separated by a space can be added to the list but won’t be checked.

Microsoft Word’s custom dictionary only lets you add single words to its list. While we wait for Microsoft to catch up there are limited options available. Word’s custom dictionary can’t handle repeating words or phrases and it should. Why can’t you add repeating words or phrases to the Microsoft Word custom dictionary?

How add custom dictionary in word 2016