Using fuzzy searches

Last published : Apr 17, 2026
Searching natural language is inherently imprecise. Fuzzy search is an alternative search method that finds words that require a proscribed number of character modifications (known as edits) to match the search term. For instance, a fuzzy search for 'ax' would match the word 'axe', since only a single deletion, removing the 'e', is required to match the two words.
The fuzziness argument specifies that the results match with a maximum edit distance of 2. It should be noted that fuzziness should only be used with values of 1 and 2, meaning a maximum of 2 edits between the query and a term in a document is allowed. To create a fuzzy search, add a tilde character (~) and a numerical value of 1 or 2. For example, to use a fuzzy search to find the word testing, you could use the following arguments:
Note: The fuzzy search only works for individual words; it does not work for phrases.
  • tesitng~1
  • etsitng~2
The following examples show how the arguments would work for the word testing, given that only 2 edits are allowed:
  • tesitng~1 is searchable because, 1 edit is required
  • etsitng~2 is searchable because, 2 edits are required
  • etsitgn~2 is not searchable because, 3 edits are required