Online Dictionaries for Proofreaders and Editors
To help make things easier for you, we have compiled a list of the best online dictionaries for proofreaders and editors.
You can use these for proofreading across different English dialects, but be sure you are using an appropriate dictionary for the dialect of the text. Refer back to them if you are ever in doubt of a word’s spelling, meaning, or use while proofreading a document. Even if you think you know what a word means, there can be additional definitions or subtle differences between dialects, so never hesitate to look it up!
Our go-to resource for UK English:
Our go-to resource for US English:
Other reliable sources for additional checks or cross-referencing:
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Collins Dictionary
- Australian English (subscription only): Macquarie Dictionary
For more online dictionaries, including discipline- or subject-specific ones, such as legal or scientific dictionaries, check out this blog post. And for proofreading Canadian English, check out our guide.
Another handy tool that you can use to investigate a word’s usage is Google’s Ngram Viewer. You can use this for:
- Checking which spelling is more common between two variants
- Seeing whether a variant spelling is still common in modern English
- Comparing the use of words and spellings in British and American English
- Checking whether a term is typically capitalised
Read our guide on how to use Google’s Ngram Viewer as a proofreading tool.
-
Business Writing Style Sheet
Use this example style sheet as a model for creating your own when proofreading or editing a business document.
-
Academic Writing Style Sheet
You can modify this template to make notes on stylistic preferences in an academic document.
-
Nonfiction Style Sheet
Use this style sheet template to note down stylistic elements in nonfiction writing, whether it’s a technical guide, historical study, or biography.
-
Fiction Style Sheet
There can be many unique stylistic elements in creative writing, so a customized style sheet helps you keep track.
-
Publishing Glossary
This is a collection of terms you might come across when proofreading or editing for a client in the publishing industry.
