How to Disable Word Spell Check Suggestions Loading on Cursor Movement

When you move the cursor over a word marked with a red squiggly underline, Word loads a pop-up list of spelling suggestions. This behavior can slow down document navigation, especially on large files or slower computers. The feature is controlled by a setting in Word’s advanced options that manages how spelling suggestions appear. This article explains how to disable the automatic loading of spell check suggestions when the cursor moves.

Why Word Shows Spell Check Suggestions When You Move the Cursor

Word’s spell checker runs in the background and marks potential errors with a red squiggly underline. By default, when you hover over or move the cursor onto a flagged word, Word loads a small pop-up box with suggested corrections. This feature is designed to give you quick access to the correct spelling without opening a separate dialog.

The pop-up is part of Word’s “contextual spelling” behavior. It uses the Windows spell-check engine and the Office proofing tools to generate suggestions in real time. On documents with many misspellings, technical terms, or non-English text, loading these suggestions can cause noticeable lag. The cursor movement triggers a lookup event, which forces Word to query the dictionary and display results.

This behavior is controlled by two separate settings. The first is the general proofing option that hides all spelling errors in the document. The second is an advanced editing option that disables the click-to-open spelling pane. Turning off either or both of these options stops the suggestion pop-up from appearing.

Steps to Disable Spell Check Suggestions on Cursor Movement

Use one or both of the following methods depending on how much spell-check functionality you want to keep. Method 1 hides all underlines and suggestions entirely. Method 2 keeps underlines visible but stops the pop-up from loading when you move the cursor.

Method 1: Hide All Spelling and Grammar Errors

1. Open Word Options
   Click the File tab, then click Options at the bottom of the left-hand menu. This opens the Word Options dialog box.
2. Go to Proofing settings
   In the Word Options dialog, click Proofing in the left sidebar. This section contains all settings related to spelling and grammar checking.
3. Check the “Hide spelling and grammar errors” boxes
   Under the heading “When correcting spelling and grammar in Word,” check the box labeled Hide spelling and grammar errors. Also check Hide grammar errors if you want to remove grammar underlines as well. These options apply only to the current document by default. To apply to all new documents, click the Exceptions for dropdown and select All New Documents before checking the boxes.
4. Click OK
   Click OK at the bottom of the Word Options dialog. Word removes all red and blue underlines and stops loading suggestion pop-ups when the cursor moves over previously flagged text.

Method 2: Disable the Click-to-Open Spelling Pane

1. Open Word Options
   Click the File tab and then click Options.
2. Go to Advanced settings
   In the Word Options dialog, click Advanced in the left sidebar. This section contains editing and display options.
3. Find the Editing options section
   Scroll down to the Editing options area, which is near the top of the Advanced settings list.
4. Uncheck “Enable click to open Spelling pane”
   Locate the option Enable click to open Spelling pane and uncheck the box. This prevents Word from opening the spelling pane when you Ctrl+click a word or when the cursor triggers a suggestion pop-up. The red underlines remain visible, but the pop-up no longer loads.
5. Click OK
   Click OK to save the change. The suggestion pop-up will no longer appear when you move the cursor over a flagged word.

If Word Still Shows Suggestions After the Main Fix

Spell Check Suggestions Appear in the Right-Click Menu

Even after disabling the pop-up, right-clicking a flagged word may still show a context menu with spelling suggestions. To remove suggestions from the right-click menu, you can add a registry key that disables the context menu for spelling. This method requires editing the Windows Registry. Back up the registry before making changes.

1. Open Registry Editor
   Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control.
2. Navigate to the Word key
   Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\Options. Replace 16.0 with the version number for your Office release (15.0 for Office 2013, 16.0 for Office 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365).
3. Create a new DWORD value
   Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value NoContextPopup.
4. Set the value data
   Double-click NoContextPopup, set Value data to 1, and click OK.
5. Restart Word
   Close and reopen Word. The right-click context menu for flagged words will no longer show spelling suggestions.

Suggestions Still Load When Hovering Over Flagged Words

If the pop-up still appears when you hover (not click) over a word, the issue may be caused by an add-in or a third-party spell-check tool. Disable all Word add-ins to test. Go to File > Options > Add-ins, click Go next to the type of add-in, and uncheck each add-in. Restart Word and check if the behavior stops.

Spell Check Behavior: Pop-Up Disabled vs Underlines Hidden

Item	Pop-Up Disabled (Method 2)	Underlines Hidden (Method 1)
Red squiggly underlines	Still visible	Hidden
Suggestion pop-up on cursor move	Disabled	Disabled
Right-click suggestions	Still visible (unless registry edit applied)	Disabled
Spell check in background	Still runs	Still runs
Best for	Users who want to see errors but not the pop-up	Users who want a clean document view

You can now control exactly how Word displays spell check feedback when you move the cursor. For most users, Method 2 (unchecking “Enable click to open Spelling pane”) provides the best balance: errors remain visible, but the suggestion pop-up stops loading. If you need to prevent all spelling-related interruptions, use Method 1 to hide underlines entirely. For advanced control over the right-click menu, apply the NoContextPopup registry key. To revert any change, simply re-check the option or delete the registry value.