diff --git a/src/errors.h b/src/errors.h
index dfb6ce644d76bb6baed845b3806137c8d91850ca..34161e01efed7c58d270a59100359041f71eb050 100644
--- a/src/errors.h
+++ b/src/errors.h
@@ -3273,7 +3273,7 @@ EXTERN char e_illegal_map_mode_string_str[]
 # if !defined(FEAT_JOB_CHANNEL)
 EXTERN char e_channel_job_feature_not_available[]
 	INIT(= N_("E1277: Channel and job feature is not available"));
-# endif
+#endif
 EXTERN char e_stray_closing_curly_str[]
 	INIT(= N_("E1278: Stray '}' without a matching '{': %s"));
 EXTERN char e_missing_close_curly_str[]
diff --git a/src/spellfile.c b/src/spellfile.c
index 24df042b764af79a22642b99efe35f044e3609f1..51f22d7a52d245e88e2931a7286d5a2c1a519167 100644
--- a/src/spellfile.c
+++ b/src/spellfile.c
@@ -6216,6 +6216,12 @@ spell_add_word(
     int		i;
     char_u	*spf;
 
+     if (enc_utf8 && !utf_valid_string(word, NULL))
+    {
+	emsg(_(e_illegal_character_in_word));
+	return;
+    }
+    
     if (!valid_spell_word(word, word + len))
     {
 	emsg(_(e_illegal_character_in_word));