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Spelling & Grammer and Thesaurus on Word for Mac has Stopped Working

John Boyd 20 Reputation points
2026-05-16T22:08:52.13+00:00

I use Mac OS 26.3.1 and Word 16. 109 on my desktop. Note that I'm in Japan and use an Apple Japanese keyboard. The languages I've designated are English and Japanese and haven't changed. Spell checker and Thesaurus have suddenly stopped working. I checked on this site early and I tried all the simple suggestions (to similar posts) like wrong language chosen, making sure Automatically check spelling and grammar while I type is checked, etc. The language icon in my Apple menu bar is A (for ABC, which has always been the case), so no change there. When I say the Thesaurus doesn't work, I mean in every case when I check Synonyms, it says no results found in a sidebar called Thesaurus. This is the first time for this problem to arise in decades of use of Word for Mac.

(As I wrote the above, Chrome underlined a misspelling!).

Can you help, please?

PS: I don't see a button to be notified when someone answers. Do you let me know automatically, or do I have to keep logging in to check?

PPS: I was just asked to choose a tag. I chose Microsoft 365 and Office, Word. But I don't use 365. I bought Word separately.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS

Answer accepted by question author

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.6K Reputation points
2026-05-17T15:13:39.3233333+00:00

One consideration is that your cited version of Tahoe [26.3.1] is several major updates behind. Version 26.5 is the current release.

Check with the developer of Prowriting Aid Everywhere to confirm that it is current as well. Such products have been known to interfere with Word's proofing tools, especially if those products aren't current. They often lag behind updates to the OS & other programs.

Note that Word has its own proofing tools so what is used by the other programs you cited is totally unrelated.

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  2. Stefan Blom 341K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-05-17T00:41:21.44+00:00

    Do you routinely use more than one language in one and the same document, or do you strictly use one language per document?

    Which language is set as your default proofing language in your Office installation? If you create a new, blank document (Command+N), does that language work as expected?

    Note that looking at the default proofing language is only a first step. Individual text ranges, as small as a single text character, can have its own language settings, separate from the default, in Word.

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  3. John Boyd 20 Reputation points
    2026-05-16T22:31:01.9433333+00:00

    User's image

    I tried to do #6. But in Preferences, there is no com.microsoft.word.plist. I did see various Microsoft plists items but not for Word.

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  4. AI answer

    2026-05-16T22:09:19.83+00:00

    Perform these checks and corrections in Word for Mac to restore spelling, grammar, and thesaurus:

    1. Verify automatic spelling and grammar checking
      1. On the Word menu, select Preferences > Spelling & Grammar.
      2. Under Spelling, ensure Check spelling as you type is checked.
      3. Under Grammar, ensure Check grammar as you type is checked.
      4. Close the dialog box to save the changes.
    2. Re-run a full spelling and grammar check
      1. On the Review tab, select Spelling & Grammar.
      2. Use the dialog box to step through issues and confirm that Word is now detecting errors.
      3. If nothing is found despite obvious errors, continue with the next steps.
    3. Confirm the proofing language is correct
      1. Press Command+A to select all text in the document.
      2. On the Tools menu, select Language.
      3. Choose the correct proofing language (for example, English) and select OK.
      4. If writing in multiple languages, repeat as needed for each section.
      5. Optionally, on the Review tab, go to Language and enable Detect language automatically so Word can detect English vs Japanese automatically.
    4. Check spelling and grammar in another language (if needed)
      1. Select the text to be checked.
      2. On the Review tab, select Language.
      3. Choose the desired language and select OK.
    5. Reset ignored spelling and grammar (if issues were previously ignored)
      1. Open the affected document.
      2. On the Tools menu, point to Spelling and Grammar, then select Reset Ignored Words and Grammar.
      3. Confirm the warning, then go to Review > Spelling & Grammar and run the check again.
    6. Remove Word preferences if the problem persists
      1. Quit all Office applications.
      2. In Finder, on the Go menu, select Home.
      3. Open Library > Preferences.
      4. Drag com.microsoft.word.plist and the Microsoft folder to the desktop.
      5. Restart the Mac and then start Word; this recreates fresh preferences, which can resolve proofing issues.
    7. About notification of answers The question-and-answer site behavior (notifications, tags, etc.) is controlled by the site itself, not by Word. Notification settings must be managed in the site’s account or profile settings.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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