Search for a tool
Levenshtein Distance

Tool to calculate the Levenshtein distance between 2 words (character string) and search for related words in the dictionary or in a list.

Results

Levenshtein Distance -

Tag(s) : Data Processing

Share
dCode and more

dCode is free and its tools are a valuable help in games, maths, geocaching, puzzles and problems to solve every day!
A suggestion ? a feedback ? a bug ? an idea ? Write to dCode!

Please, check our dCode Discord community for help requests!
NB: for encrypted messages, test our automatic cipher identifier!

Thanks to your feedback and relevant comments, dCode has developed the best 'Levenshtein Distance' tool, so feel free to write! Thank you!

# Levenshtein Distance

Sponsored ads

## Distance Measurement

Loading...
(if this message do not disappear, try to refresh this page)

## Answers to Questions (FAQ)

### What is the Levenshtein distance? (Definition)

The Levenshtein distance is an algorithmic method allowing to quantify a distance between two words (more generally between 2 strings of characters). Two close words (that is to say that few things separate them spelling: they have several letters in common, in the same position) will then have a small distance, while two very different words will have a large distance. This distance is also called edit distance and is equal to the minimum number of characters to be deleted, inserted, or replaced to move from one string to another.

Example: TAKE and MAKE are similar graphically (a kind of near-homograph) and have a Levenshtein distance of 1

Example: CLOSE and CLOTHES are similar phonetically (homophone) but orthographically far apart, they have a Levenshtein distance of 3

The distance from Levenshtein is symmetrical, the distance value from STRING1 to STRING2 is equal to the distance value from STRING2 to STRING1

### How does Levenshtein distance work?

Levenshtein's algorithm evaluates the number of differences between the two character strings, the differences can be of 3 types: a substitution (replacement of one character by another), an insertion (addition of a new character) or a deletion (deletion of a character).

$$\operatorname{Distance}(a,b) = \begin{cases} ||a|| & \text{ if } ||b|| = 0, \\ ||b|| & \text{ if } ||a|| = 0, \\ \operatorname{Distance}(a', b') & \text{ if } a[0] = b[0] \\ 1 + \min \begin{cases} \operatorname{Distance}(a', b) \\ \operatorname{Distance}(a, b') \\ \operatorname{Distance}(a', b') \\ \end{cases} & \text{ otherwise } \end{cases}$$

With $||a||$ the size of the string, and $a'$ the string $a$ deprived of its first character (noted $a[0]$)

### How to measure the distance between 2 words?

The Levenshtein distance measures the similarity between two strings of characters.

Example: DCODE is at a distance of 2 from DECODER (1- add E and 2- add R)

Example: DECODER is at a distance of 2 from DCODE (1- remove E and 2- remove R)

### How to find a word clost to another?

Use the dCode tool by entering a word and a dictionary with which to compare the word.

All words with a similar spelling will be returned.

### What is Levenshtein distance used for?

Calculating the distance between 2 strings of characters can make it possible to know their quantity of differences and thus also their amount of similarity. So the Levenshtein calculation algorithm can be used to determine typing errors or misspellings, words for which the proximity of the compared chains is strong.

## Source code

dCode retains ownership of the online 'Levenshtein Distance' tool source code. Except explicit open source licence (indicated CC / Creative Commons / free), any 'Levenshtein Distance' algorithm, applet or snippet (converter, solver, encryption / decryption, encoding / decoding, ciphering / deciphering, translator), or any 'Levenshtein Distance' function (calculate, convert, solve, decrypt / encrypt, decipher / cipher, decode / encode, translate) written in any informatic language (Python, Java, PHP, C#, Javascript, Matlab, etc.) and no data download, script, copy-paste, or API access for 'Levenshtein Distance' will be for free, same for offline use on PC, tablet, iPhone or Android ! dCode is free and online.

## Need Help ?

Please, check our dCode Discord community for help requests!
NB: for encrypted messages, test our automatic cipher identifier!

## Questions / Comments

Thanks to your feedback and relevant comments, dCode has developed the best 'Levenshtein Distance' tool, so feel free to write! Thank you!

Source : https://www.dcode.fr/levenshtein-distance
© 2021 dCode — The ultimate 'toolkit' to solve every games / riddles / geocaching / CTF.
Feedback