diff --git a/rc/tools/spell.kak b/rc/tools/spell.kak
index b6d030aa..d062f3e4 100644
--- a/rc/tools/spell.kak
+++ b/rc/tools/spell.kak
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ define-command \
 
 define-command -params 0.. \
     -docstring "Add the current selection to the dictionary" \
-    spell-add %{ nop %sh{
+    spell-add %{ evaluate-commands %sh{
     if [ -n "$kak_opt_spell_last_lang" ]; then
         options="-l '$kak_opt_spell_last_lang'"
     fi
@@ -159,10 +159,12 @@ define-command -params 0.. \
         # use selections
         eval set -- "$kak_quoted_selections"
     fi
-    words=""
     while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
-        words="$words"$(printf '*%s\\n#\\n' "$1")
+        word="$1"
+        if ! printf '*%s\n#\n' "${word}" | eval "aspell -a $options" >/dev/null; then
+           printf 'fail "Unable to add word: %s"' "$(printf %s "${word}" | sed 's/"/&&/g')"
+           exit 1
+        fi
         shift
     done
-    printf %b\\n "$words" | eval "aspell -a $options" 
 }}