diff --git a/src/plugins/hunspell/CMakeLists.txt b/src/plugins/hunspell/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/src/plugins/hunspell/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/plugins/hunspell/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@
 )
 ecm_qt_declare_logging_category(sonnet_hunspell_PART_SRCS HEADER hunspelldebug.h IDENTIFIER SONNET_HUNSPELL CATEGORY_NAME sonnet.plugins.hunspell)
 
+# see: https://phabricator.kde.org/R246:0a96acf251baa5c9dd042d093ab2bf8fcee10502
+set(USE_OLD_HUNSPELL_API TRUE)
+if (PKG_HUNSPELL_VERSION GREATER "1.5.0")
+    set(USE_OLD_HUNSPELL_API FALSE) # new API introduced in v1.5.1 (cf. https://github.com/hunspell/hunspell/commit/8006703dafeebce19f2144c5cf180812eb99693a)
+endif()
+message(STATUS "Using old hunspell API: ${USE_OLD_HUNSPELL_API}")
+
+configure_file(config-hunspell.h.cmake ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/config-hunspell.h)
+
 add_library(sonnet_hunspell MODULE ${sonnet_hunspell_PART_SRCS})
 target_include_directories(sonnet_hunspell SYSTEM PUBLIC ${HUNSPELL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 target_link_libraries(sonnet_hunspell PRIVATE KF5::SonnetCore ${HUNSPELL_LIBRARIES})
diff --git a/src/plugins/hunspell/config-hunspell.h.cmake b/src/plugins/hunspell/config-hunspell.h.cmake
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/hunspell/config-hunspell.h.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#cmakedefine01 USE_OLD_HUNSPELL_API
diff --git a/src/plugins/hunspell/hunspelldict.cpp b/src/plugins/hunspell/hunspelldict.cpp
--- a/src/plugins/hunspell/hunspelldict.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/hunspell/hunspelldict.cpp
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@
  * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
  * 02110-1301  USA
  */
+
 #include "hunspelldict.h"
+
+#include "config-hunspell.h"
 #include "hunspelldebug.h"
 
 #include <QFile>
@@ -102,20 +105,38 @@
     if (!m_speller) {
         return false;
     }
+
+#if USE_OLD_HUNSPELL_API
+    int result = m_speller->spell(toDictEncoding(word).constData());
+    qCDebug(SONNET_HUNSPELL) << " result :" << result;
+    return result != 0;
+#else
     bool result = m_speller->spell(toDictEncoding(word).toStdString());
     qCDebug(SONNET_HUNSPELL) << " result :" << result;
     return result;
+#endif
 }
 
 QStringList HunspellDict::suggest(const QString &word) const
 {
     if (!m_speller) {
         return QStringList();
     }
+
     QStringList lst;
+#if USE_OLD_HUNSPELL_API
+    char **selection;
+    int nbWord = m_speller->suggest(&selection, toDictEncoding(word).constData());
+    for (int i = 0; i < nbWord; ++i) {
+        lst << m_codec->toUnicode(selection[i]);
+    }
+    m_speller->free_list(&selection, nbWord);
+#else
     const auto suggestions = m_speller->suggest(toDictEncoding(word).toStdString());
     for_each (suggestions.begin(), suggestions.end(), [this, &lst](const std::string &suggestion) {
             lst << m_codec->toUnicode(suggestion.c_str()); });
+#endif
+
     return lst;
 }