libreoffice spell check doesn't work?

[Gary Aitken]

I can't get the libreoffice spell check (scribbens) to work.
It shows up in the toolbar, and I have the option set to check as I type,
but I don't see any corrections.  If I type xxx, it's not underlined in red.
If I hilight / select a paragraph with mis-spellings, then click
scribbens/English, nothing is noted.

I tried downloading the extension again and reinstalling it, restarting
libreoffice; no affect.

I've tried Tools/Options/LanguageSettings/Languages both "Default-English(USA)"
and "English (USA)", and with and without "Check spelling as you type" checked.

Tools/Options/LanguageSettings/WritingAids shows only "Libhyphen Hyphenator"
under "Available language modules".

hints?

p.s. I also have hunspell installed, but I don't think it is used by
libreoffice?

11.4-RELEASE-p3

Thanks,

Gary