diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 390ecbb..30b9248 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 my $ignore_perl_version = 0;
 my $minimum_perl_version = 5.10.0;
 my $min_conf_desc_length = 4;
+my $spelling_warn = 0;
 my $spelling_file = "$D/spelling.txt";
 my $codespell = 0;
 my $codespellfile = "/usr/share/codespell/dictionary.txt";
@@ -110,6 +111,7 @@ sub help {
                              file.  It's your fault if there's no backup or git
   --ignore-perl-version      override checking of perl version.  expect
                              runtime errors.
+  --spelling                 Warn about typos and spelling problems
   --codespell                Use the codespell dictionary for spelling/typos
                              (default:/usr/share/codespell/dictionary.txt)
   --codespellfile            Use this codespell dictionary
@@ -206,6 +208,7 @@ sub list_types {
 	'ignore-perl-version!' => \$ignore_perl_version,
 	'debug=s'	=> \%debug,
 	'test-only=s'	=> \$tst_only,
+	'spelling!'	=> \$spelling_warn,
 	'codespell!'	=> \$codespell,
 	'codespellfile=s'	=> \$codespellfile,
 	'color!'	=> \$color,
@@ -2663,6 +2666,7 @@ sub process {
 				$typo_fix = uc($typo_fix) if ($typo =~ /^[A-Z]+$/);
 				my $msg_type = \&WARN;
 				$msg_type = \&CHK if ($file);
+				$msg_type = \&WARN if ($spelling_warn);
 				if (&{$msg_type}("TYPO_SPELLING",
 						 "'$typo' may be misspelled - perhaps '$typo_fix'?\n" . $herecurr) &&
 				    $fix) {