diff --git a/extra/spelling/spelling.factor b/extra/spelling/spelling.factor
index 8a35178095..6b0868765a 100644
--- a/extra/spelling/spelling.factor
+++ b/extra/spelling/spelling.factor
@@ -1,42 +1,31 @@
 USING: arrays ascii assocs combinators combinators.smart fry
 http.client io.encodings.ascii io.files io.files.temp kernel
-locals math math.statistics memoize sequences sorting splitting
-strings urls ;
+literals locals math math.ranges math.statistics memoize
+sequences sets sorting splitting strings urls ;
 IN: spelling
 
 ! http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html
 
-CONSTANT: ALPHABET "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
+CONSTANT: ALPHABET $[
+    "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" [ 1string ] { } map-as
+]
 
-: splits ( word -- sequence )
-    dup length iota [ cut 2array ] with map ;
+: splits ( word -- splits )
+    dup length [0,b] [ cut 2array ] with map ;
 
-: deletes ( sequence -- sequence' )
+: deletes ( splits -- edits )
     [ second length 0 > ] filter [ first2 rest append ] map ;
 
-: transposes ( sequence -- sequence' )
-    [ second length 1 > ] filter [
-        [
-            {
-                [ first ]
-                [ second second 1string ]
-                [ second first 1string ]
-                [ second 2 tail ]
-            } cleave
-        ] "" append-outputs-as
-    ] map ;
+: transposes ( splits -- edits )
+    [ second length 1 > ] filter
+    [ first2 2 cut swap reverse! glue ] map ;
 
-: replaces ( sequence -- sequence' )
-    [ second length 0 > ] filter [
-        [ ALPHABET ] dip first2
-        '[ 1string _ _ rest surround ] { } map-as
-    ] map concat ;
+: replaces ( splits -- edits )
+    [ second length 0 > ] filter ALPHABET
+    [ [ first2 rest ] [ glue ] bi* ] cartesian-map concat ;
 
-: inserts ( sequence -- sequence' )
-    [
-        ALPHABET
-        [ [ first2 ] dip 1string glue ] with { } map-as
-    ] map concat ;
+: inserts ( splits -- edits )
+    ALPHABET [ [ first2 ] [ glue ] bi* ] cartesian-map concat ;
 
 : edits1 ( word -- edits )
     [
@@ -51,14 +40,14 @@ CONSTANT: ALPHABET "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
 : edits2 ( word -- edits )
     edits1 [ edits1 ] map concat ;
 
-: filter-known ( words dictionary -- words' )
+: filter-known ( edits dictionary -- words )
     '[ _ key? ] filter ;
 
 :: corrections ( word dictionary -- words )
     word 1array dictionary filter-known
     [ word edits1 dictionary filter-known ] when-empty
     [ word edits2 dictionary filter-known ] when-empty
-    [ dictionary at 1 or ] sort-with ;
+    [ dictionary at ] sort-with reverse! ;
 
 : words ( string -- words )
     >lower [ letter? not ] split-when harvest ;