# Google = the best spell checker **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687 "2011-05-04T13:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/1 "2011-05-04T13:41:24Z")
If you don’t know how to spell a word, most of the times you can type it the best you know how and the spell checker will give you the correct answer. But for words you have no idea how to spell, and you can’t even come close to get the spell checker to give you the answer, Google the word as best you can. I have found that Google will usually, perhaps always give you the correct spelling even if you are very far off. Example moseltof returns the correct spelling mazel tov (Hebrew for good luck) Mazel tov ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/2 "2011-05-04T13:53:51Z")
No kidding. Google would be worth every penny we pay for it for that feature alone. I don’t even bother to go to a dictionary site anymore. I just google the word and it tells me the correct spelling. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/3 "2011-05-04T14:10:37Z")
Absolutely. I use it most for spelling names, but occasionally for other words. Firefox has a built-in spellchecker and I’m usually typing in FF or in Word, so I don’t really need help with dictionary words. But for proper nouns, it’s invaluable. I also use Google to get special characters like umlauts and accented a’s and e’s. Last night I needed to type “Olé” and just typed it in to Google, and copied the correct word from a result. No need to look up the key combination to type it myself! ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/4 "2011-05-04T14:29:21Z")
It’s rather ironic that Chrome’s spell checker misses so many words that Google finds in a split second. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/5 "2011-05-04T18:52:30Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I also use Google to get special characters like umlauts and accented a’s and e’s. Last night I needed to type “Olé” and just typed it in to Google, and copied the correct word from a result. No need to look up the key combination to type it myself! I never thought about using it for that. Brilliant! Unfortunately, it won’t give me the umlaut in Spinal Tap. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/6 "2011-05-04T18:56:51Z")
I use google for spell checking too. It’s fast and easy. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/7 "2011-05-04T19:02:50Z")
I think the reason Google can figure out your completely clueless misspelling so easily is that so many millions of other people are making the exact same completely clueless misspelling. Google is all about aggregation–and it’s jaded. Nothing fazes Google. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/8 "2011-05-04T19:19:29Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I think the reason Google can figure out your completely clueless misspelling so easily is that so many millions of other people are making the exact same completely clueless misspelling. Google is all about aggregation–and it’s jaded. Nothing fazes Google. Google makes me feel wholly\* unoriginal. No matter what bizarre thing I type into Google these days, it predicts it before I finish, indication that four bazillion people already googled the same damn thing, word for word. \*yes, I had to Google that for spelling ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/9 "2011-05-04T20:58:11Z")
It’s better than Outllook, which just tried to correct my spelling of iPad to iPod. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/10 "2011-05-04T21:01:03Z")
I’ve used it for this express purpose but I’ve also gotten burned on it. To be sure of accuracy I take the word and run it by a dictionary web site. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/11 "2011-05-04T21:24:10Z")
It’s fantastic for looking up medical terminology. More than once I’ve taken a transcriptionist’s phonetic guess at a pharmaceutical term, plugged it into Google, and gotten the right answer. I always examine the cites the spelling comes from to be sure it’s the correct term, but it usually is. Just plugged ratucksamab into Google and got rituximab. Really kind of freaky. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/12 "2011-05-05T02:06:31Z")
Yep, I’ve been very close to pitting people on a number of occasions after they put a word in their post followed by “(sp?)”. Unless it’s a very obscure name or something else that Google absolutely wouldn’t know, there’s just no reason for that. It’s both inconsiderate to readers and downright inefficient. If you count hitting Shift, typing “(sp?)” takes seven keystrokes. It only takes four to start a [Quick Search](http://johnbokma.com/firefox/keymarks-explained.html) – Alt-d, g, Space, and your best guess at the word. There are wonderful free tools out there, and they’re easier than ever to use. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/13 "2011-05-05T14:33:12Z")
> [@Number](#): > > Yep, I’ve been very close to pitting people on a number of occasions after they put a word in their post followed by “(sp?)”. Unless it’s a very obscure name or something else that Google absolutely wouldn’t know, there’s just no reason for that. It’s both inconsiderate to readers and downright inefficient. > > If you count hitting Shift, typing “(sp?)” takes seven keystrokes. It only takes four to start a [Quick Search](http://johnbokma.com/firefox/keymarks-explained.html) – Alt-d, g, Space, and your best guess at the word. > > There are wonderful free tools out there, and they’re easier than ever to use. Man, you guys do things the hard way. Type everything out, and then, during your spell check, double click on the word, and either drag it up to the search bar or right-click and choose Search Google for “”. I would love an extension that would check Google for spellcheck, though. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-the-best-spell-checker/580687/14 "2011-05-05T14:37:26Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Absolutely. I use it most for spelling names, but occasionally for other words. Firefox has a built-in spellchecker and I’m usually typing in FF or in Word, so I don’t really need help with dictionary words. But for proper nouns, it’s invaluable. > > I also use Google to get special characters like umlauts and accented a’s and e’s. Last night I needed to type “Olé” and just typed it in to Google, and copied the correct word from a result. No need to look up the key combination to type it myself! You have a good eye. Only one of the results has the properly accented word, and it’s the one that happens to be in Spanish. I just use [typeit.org](http://www.typeit.org/). I even have the IPA one bookmarked since it keeps coming up in discussions around here.