diff --git a/scripts/codespell-whitelist.txt b/scripts/codespell-whitelist.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..50a498c1f90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/codespell-whitelist.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+actuall
+agains
+aline
+alloced
+anid
+ans
+aparent
+backword
+backwords
+cachable
+cas
+childs
+commend
+crypted
+dont
+fo
+followings
+formater
+hight
+hist
+iff
+inactivate
+initate
+nd
+neeed
+nnumber
+normall
+othere
+pasttime
+performes
+pevents
+pointes
+preceed
+querys
+readed
+referer
+retuned
+sence
+sheme
+tage
+te
+tha
+ther
+therefor
+thru
+thur
+tim
+tread
+tthe
+ue
+uint
+upto
+vaid
+valuse
+whan
+whe
+wil
+wnat
diff --git a/scripts/spell-check.sh b/scripts/spell-check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..337c1040a3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/spell-check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+## Copyright (C) 2020 The Squid Software Foundation and contributors
+##
+## Squid software is distributed under GPLv2+ license and includes
+## contributions from numerous individuals and organizations.
+## Please see the COPYING and CONTRIBUTORS files for details.
+##
+
+#
+# This script uses codespell to automatically fix a subset of common spelling
+# mistakes in the current git-controlled workspace.
+#
+# Usage: ./scripts/spell-check.sh [target]...
+# ... where "target" is a git-controlled file or directory name to be fixed.
+#
+# By default, a hand-picked subset of Squid repository sources is fixed.
+#
+# See ${WHITE_LIST} below for the list of allowed misspellings.
+#
+
+set -e
+
+echo -n "Codespell version: "
+if ! codespell --version; then
+    echo "This script requires codespell which was not found."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! git diff --quiet; then
+    echo "There are unstaged changes. This script may modify sources."
+    echo "Stage changes to avoid permanent losses when things go bad."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+WHITE_LIST=scripts/codespell-whitelist.txt
+if test ! -f "${WHITE_LIST}"; then
+    echo "${WHITE_LIST} does not exist"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+for FILENAME in `git ls-files "$@"`; do
+    # skip subdirectories, git ls-files is recursive
+    test -d $FILENAME && continue
+
+    case ${FILENAME} in
+
+    # skip (some) generated files with otherwise-checked extensions
+    doc/debug-sections.txt)
+        ;;
+
+    # skip imported/foreign files with otherwise-checked extensions
+    doc/*/*.txt)
+        ;;
+
+    # check all these
+    *.h|*.c|*.cc|*.cci|\
+    *.sh|\
+    *.pre|\
+    *.pl|*.pl.in|*.pm|\
+    *.dox|*.html|*.txt|\
+    *.sql|\
+    errors/templates/ERR_*|\
+    INSTALL|README|QUICKSTART)
+        if ! codespell -d -q 3 -w -I "${WHITE_LIST}" ${FILENAME}; then
+            echo "codespell failed for ${FILENAME}"
+            exit 1
+	fi
+        ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+exit 0