diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 61fc34a52..2b165ad7d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -78,8 +78,7 @@ check_toc: $(MARKDOWN_FILES:=.toc)
 	rm $*.tmp
 
 codespell:
-  # Check codespell for errors, but disregard entries in .codespell-whitelist
-	! codespell . --skip ./.git | grep -v 'disabled'
+	codespell . --skip ./.git -I .codespell-whitelist
 
 lint: $(PY_SPEC_ALL_TARGETS)
 	cd $(PY_SPEC_DIR); . venv/bin/activate; \