One embodiment provides a method, including: receiving, in an overlay handwriting application, one or more handwriting strokes; processing the one or more handwriting strokes to obtain at least one candidate machine input word; generating, using a spell check application, at least one spell check word using the at least one candidate machine input word; and providing, on a display device, the at least one spell check word generated by the spell check application. Other embodiments are described and claimed.