I'm inserting a word above a between-word space and a symbol below the same space (to imitate a teacher's correction). I'm using pdflatex and adapted this answer:
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}
\usepackage{stackengine}
%\onehalfspacing
\newcommand\labelit[2]{\stackengine{.55\baselineskip}{#1}
{\scriptsize\sffamily#2}{O}{c}{F}{F}{L}}
\newcommand\labeldown[2]{\stackengine{-.45\baselineskip}{#1}
{\scriptsize\sffamily#2}{O}{c}{F}{F}{L}}
\begin{document}
Film \labelit{magic}{\quad\quad\textit{never}}\labeldown{}{$\land $} lost in translation.
\end{document}