Laura,

I experienced this problem with Word 2016 long before you did. Since upgrading to 2019 (not the latest version), spellchecker works well.

with luck, either or both of Curtis’s suggestions will work for you. In case not, I’m trying to recall my own workaround. It went something like this:

The first time Word suggested a corrected spelling, I’d accept the right answer. At that point, JAWS stayed at “Change” button but the PC focus moved to the next possible error. I’d shift-tab to the suggestions list, where JAWS would verbalize what it read. either I knew it was correct or insert-c (read context) indicated which word was in question. With luck, I could accept the suggestion.

I’d repeat this pattern until I needed to ignore a single instance or all. At that point, I’d lose my place in the “Change” area. Then I’d close spell-checker to start over again and hope that the next instance was  a “change” suggestion.

If you said this is cumbersome, time-consuming and somewhat hit-and-miss, I’d agree. But if no one has an answer to you and upgrading isn’t an option, this might help. It worked surprisingly well for me for several months.

Why 2019? Because I rely on a tech guy who is rather conservative when it comes to upgrades. Others on this list are at 2021, while probably even more use the subscription 365 version. I hesitate to use a subscription model less because over time it might be more expensive than that I don’t like being upgraded before the upgrade has had time to prove itself.