How to Change the Language in Microsoft Word

Change your display language or document language in Word

Microsoft Word lets you change language in two separate ways: you can change the language the program itself displays (menus, buttons, help text), or you can change the language for a specific document or section of text. Most people need to do one or the other, not both. If you want Word's menus to appear in Spanish but write in English, that is one setting. If you want to write a document in French while keeping English menus, that is a different setting.

The steps depend on whether you use Word on Windows, Mac, or online through Microsoft 365. The online version has fewer language options than the desktop versions, and Mac has a slightly different menu path than Windows.

Key Takeaways

Changing the display language (menus and buttons) requires going to File > Options > Language on Windows, or Word > Settings > Language on Mac.
Changing the language for spell-check and grammar tools requires selecting your text and using the Review tab to set the document language.
Word Online does not let you change the display language; you must change it in your Microsoft account settings instead.
Some languages require you to install a language pack on Windows before Word will display menus in that language.

Change the display language on Windows

Open Word and go to File in the top left. Click Options at the bottom of the menu. In the Options window, click Language on the left side. You will see a list of languages under "Office Display Language." The language currently in use has a checkmark next to it.

Find the language you want and click it once to select it. Then click the Set as Preferred button. Word will ask you to restart the program for the change to take effect. Close Word completely and open it again. The menus, buttons, and help text will now appear in your chosen language.

If the language you want does not appear in the list, you may need to install a language pack. At the bottom of the Language options window, you will see a link that says "Get more Office languages from Office.com" or similar. Click that link, sign in with your Microsoft account, and follow the steps to read the language pack. Once installed, restart Word and the language will appear in your list.

Change the display language on Mac

Open Word and click Word in the top menu bar (next to the Apple logo). Select Settings from the dropdown. A new window will open. Click Language on the left side. You will see "Office Language Preferences" with a list of available languages.

Click the language you want, then click Set as Preferred. Close Word completely and reopen it. The display language will change on your next launch. Mac does not require language pack downloads the way Windows does; the languages are built into the process.

Change the language for spell-check and grammar in a document

This step tells Word what language your document is written in, so it knows which dictionary to use for spell-check and which grammar rules to explore. Select the text you want to change the language for. You can select a single word, a paragraph, or the entire document (use Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac to select all).

On Windows, go to the Review tab at the top. Click Language (you may need to click a dropdown arrow if it is not when ready visible). A window titled "Language" will open. Find your language in the list and click it. Then click Set as Default if you want all future documents to use this language, or just click OK to change only this selection.

On Mac, click the Review tab, then click Language. The same window will appear. Select your language and click OK. If you want to set it as the default for all new documents, check the box that says "Set as default language" before clicking OK.

Change the language in Word Online

Word Online does not have a separate language menu inside the process. Instead, the display language follows your Microsoft account settings. To change it, sign out of Word Online and go to account.microsoft.com. Sign in, click your profile picture in the top right, and select Settings. Click Language and region on the left. Choose your language and save.

When you sign back into Word Online, the menus will appear in your chosen language. To change the language for spell-check in a Word Online document, select your text, click the Review tab, and click Language. The process is the same as the desktop version.

Troubleshooting: Language not appearing or not changing

If you changed the display language but Word still shows the old language, make sure you fully closed the program before reopening it. Clicking the X button closes the window but sometimes does not fully shut down the process. On Windows, open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), look for any process named "WINWORD.EXE" or "Microsoft Word," right-click it, and select "End Task." Then reopen Word.

If the language you want is not in the list on Windows, check whether you need to install a language pack. Go to File > Options > Language and look for the link to read additional languages. On Mac, if a language is missing, restart your computer and try again; sometimes the language list does not refresh until you restart.

If spell-check is still using the wrong language after you set it, make sure you selected the text before changing the language setting. If you only changed the setting without selecting text first, it may not have applied. Select all your text (Ctrl+A or Command+A) and repeat the language-setting steps.

When you need both display language and document language changed

You might want Word's menus in English but your document spell-checked in Spanish, or vice versa. These are independent settings, so you can do both. First, change the display language using the File > Options > Language path (or Word > Settings > Language on Mac). Then select your document text and change the document language using the Review tab. Word will remember both settings separately.

If you work in multiple languages regularly, consider setting your preferred display language to the one you use most, then changing the document language on a per-document basis as needed. This keeps the menus familiar while letting you write in any language Word supports.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will changing the display language affect my documents?

No. Changing the display language only changes what you see on the screen — menus, buttons, and dialog boxes. Your document text will not change. The document language setting (used for spell-check) is separate and does not affect the display language.

Can I use different languages in different parts of the same document?

Yes. Select the section of text you want in a different language, go to Review > Language, and set it. You can mark one paragraph as French and another as Spanish in the same document. Word will spell-check each section using the correct dictionary.

What if my language is not in the Word list?

On Windows, check File > Options > Language for a link to read additional languages from Microsoft. On Mac, most languages are included by default. If yours is still missing, Word may not support it. Check Microsoft's list of supported languages on their website.

Do I need to change the language every time I open Word?

No. Once you set a display language, Word remembers it. When you set a document language and click "Set as Default," Word uses that language for all new documents. You only need to change it again if you want something different.

Why is spell-check not working after I changed the language?

Make sure you selected your text before changing the language setting. If you did not select anything, the setting may not have applied. Also check that spell-check is turned on: go to Review and look for a "Spelling" or "Editor" button. Some versions of Word have spell-check turned off by default.

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