It wasn't spell checker, it was the auto replace that was causing the problems.

[meros]

I kept having problems, when texting, with words that had been typed correctly being replaced by the auto replace tool. Even after having corrected it twice to the word I wanted---- Donair---it kept wanting to replace it with Donati. After removing the Auto replace for English, under applications Settings, Language, I was able to type Donair without getting a popup on the screen and spell checker still worked. Some upgrades cause more problems than they resolve.

 

[Saga Lout]

Welcome and thanks for that advice. Hopefully it will help someone in the future.