Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Fast Spelling Corrections.

Fast Spelling Corrections

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 4, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


As you are typing in your document, you may have noticed that some of your words are underlined with a red wavy line. These are words for which Word is questioning your spelling. You can quickly correct your spelling (assuming you agree that it may be incorrect) by right-clicking on the word in question. The resulting Context menu (See Figure 1.) contains spelling suggestions that you can select. Word then replaces the word on which you right-clicked (the incorrect word) with the proper spelling.

Figure 1. Right-click on a misspelled word to correct it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1915) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Fast Spelling Corrections.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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