diff --git a/debian/NEWS.Debian b/debian/NEWS.Debian
index bf95738b..907d7907 100644
--- a/debian/NEWS.Debian
+++ b/debian/NEWS.Debian
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ notmuch (0.14-1) unstable; urgency=low
 
 notmuch (0.6~238) unstable; urgency=low
 
-  The emacs user interface to notmuch is now contained in a seperate
+  The emacs user interface to notmuch is now contained in a separate
   package called notmuch-emacs.
 
  -- David Bremner <bremner@debian.org>  Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:57:55 -0300
-
diff --git a/test/README b/test/README
index e0364e86..6dc30346 100644
--- a/test/README
+++ b/test/README
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ The following command-line options are available when running tests:
 	run the tests with this option in parallel.
 
 --root=<dir>::
-	This runs the testsuites specified under a seperate directory.
+	This runs the testsuites specified under a separate directory.
 	However, caution is advised, as not all tests are maintained
 	with this relocation in mind, so some tests may behave
 	differently.