---
id: sphinxcontrib-spelling
version: "8.0.2"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# sphinxcontrib-spelling — Sphinx spelling extension

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 3.5M/mo

## What it is and what it does

sphinxcontrib-spelling is a Sphinx documentation extension that integrates spell-checking into builds. It leverages pyenchant to scan documentation source and report misspelled words, helping catch typos before publication. The extension runs as part of a standard Sphinx build and produces a dedicated report of spelling issues.

It is designed for developers and technical writers maintaining Sphinx-based documentation who want automated quality checks. The package is production-stable, supports Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13, and has low installation friction—just a pip install plus configuration in Sphinx.

Use it for:

- Catch spelling errors in API documentation before merging pull requests.
- Integrate spell-checking into continuous integration pipelines for documentation builds.
- Maintain consistent spelling standards across large multi-file documentation projects.
- Generate a report of misspelled words to review and correct in bulk.
- Enforce documentation quality gates in team workflows.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

A Sphinx extension that checks documentation for spelling errors using PyEnchant, producing a report of misspelled words found during documentation builds.

Yes. If you maintain Sphinx documentation and want automated spell-checking, this is the standard tool for the job. Low install friction, active maintenance, permissive license, no known vulnerabilities, and a clear single purpose. Install it if spelling validation is part of your documentation workflow.

## Install

pip install sphinxcontrib-spelling
uv add sphinxcontrib-spelling
poetry add sphinxcontrib-spelling

## Installing sphinxcontrib-spelling

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with three straightforward runtime dependencies (pyenchant, requests, sphinx). Actively maintained as of 2025-11-28 with recent commits; repository not archived.

License in practice: Permissive BSD-style license. No restrictions on use, modification, or distribution in proprietary or open-source projects.

Quickstart:

pip install sphinxcontrib-spelling

# In conf.py, add to extensions:
extensions = ['sphinxcontrib.spelling']

# Run: sphinx-build -b spelling docs/ docs/_build/spelling

Requires Python 3.10 or later; pyenchant itself requires system spell-check libraries.

Verify before relying:

- Whether pyenchant's system-level spell-check dependency requires separate setup on target systems.
- Configuration options and customization depth for dictionary selection, word lists, or language support.
- Performance characteristics on large documentation sets.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 3.5M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

sphinx spelling checker, documentation spell check, sphinx extension spelling, pyenchant sphinx, doc spelling validation, sphinx build spell check, documentation quality check, sphinx-extension, documentation-quality, spell-check

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/sphinxcontrib-spelling) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/sphinxcontrib-spelling/)