This article analyses orthographic variation in the Linear B tablets from the Mycenaean palace of Pylos. Despite the general consistency in spelling found in Linear B texts from all sites, variation was in certain cases both permissible and entirely normal, even within the work of a single writer. Examining the patterns of orthographic variation found in the texts from Pylos, along with the factors which may have influenced this variation, sheds light on how the Mycenaean scribes were taught to write and how they applied this training in the process of creating their documents.