What it does
Hunspell provides command-line spelling checks, stemming and morphological analysis, alongside its spelling library.
Select a base .aff/.dic dictionary before checking text with Hunspell. Its current repository manual distinguishes rejected-word lists, a pipe protocol and interactive checking. Additional dictionaries follow an order: an affix-less dictionary extends the preceding base dictionary. Interactive checking permits replacements, suggestions or personal entries; Quit leaves the file unchanged. The April 2026 manual also describes -U, which writes first-suggestion replacements to standard output and leaves the input file intact. ODF processing needs an unzip program. Dictionary data determines the spelling and morphology coverage.
Strengths
- Multiple and custom dictionary support
- Stemming and morphological analysis
Best for
- Dictionary-based checks of plain text
Sources
- Hunspell: About (Oct 26, 2026)
- About Hunspell (Oct 26, 2026)
- hunspell.1 | Current official repository manual (Oct 26, 2026)
- Hunspell: About (Oct 26, 2026)