diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 19ab1543a..60d26e896 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -112,6 +112,15 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: Check table of contents
           command: sudo npm install -g doctoc && make check_toc
+  codespell:
+    docker:
+      - image: circleci/python:3.6
+    working_directory: ~/specs-repo
+    steps:
+      - checkout
+      - run:
+          name: Check codespell
+          command: pip install codespell --user &&  make codespell
   lint:
     docker:
       - image: circleci/python:3.6
@@ -158,6 +167,7 @@ workflows:
           requires:
             - install_pyspec_test
       - table_of_contents
+      - codespell
       - lint:
           requires:
             - test
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2bd87aed8..61fc34a52 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ check_toc: $(MARKDOWN_FILES:=.toc)
 	rm $*.tmp
 
 codespell:
+  # Check codespell for errors, but disregard entries in .codespell-whitelist
 	! codespell . --skip ./.git | grep -v 'disabled'
 
 lint: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)