To configure fuzzy matching and auto-complete, navigate to Elevated › Product Search › Settings › Advanced Options. Locate the Fuzzy Matching section, click the Match Strictness dropdown, and select your preferred level. Click Save Settings. The indexer updates automatically.
Navigate to Elevated › Product Search › Settings.
Locate the Advanced Options section on the left side of the page. Click Advanced Options to expand it.
Scroll to the Fuzzy Matching section below the Search Scope panel.
Click the Match Strictness dropdown to view the available levels.
Select one of the following options:
For most stores, Normal is the recommended starting point. It catches common typos without returning overly broad results.
Click Save Settings at the top of the page.
The indexer automatically updates. A success message appears indicating how many products were indexed.
Visit a page on your frontend where the search form is placed.
Type a search term with an intentional typo. For example, if you have a product named “Wireless Headphones,” type “wirelss”.
Confirm that the correct product appears despite the typo. Test with different error types: missing letters, extra letters, and swapped characters.
Fuzzy matching controls how forgiving the search engine is when a customer’s query does not exactly match the indexed text. Without fuzzy matching, a single missing letter returns zero results. With it enabled, the search engine calculates the “distance” between the query and indexed words, then returns products where the distance falls within the selected threshold.
The matching levels correspond to character differences:
Fuzzy matching applies to all enabled fields in the Search Scope. If you have titles, SKUs, and custom fields enabled, the typo tolerance applies across all of them.
WooCommerce product search autocomplete, also known as auto-suggestions, shows live results that appear in the dropdown as the customer types. These are powered by the same index and respect the fuzzy matching setting. When a customer types a partial or misspelled word, the dropdown updates instantly to show the closest matches.
If you sell technical products where exact codes matter (such as replacement parts or electronic components), you may prefer Off or Hard to prevent partial matches from returning incorrect items. If you sell consumer goods where customers may not know exact product names, Normal or Soft reduces dead-end searches and makes WooCommerce product search autocomplete more helpful for shoppers.
Product fuzzy matching is not catching typos
Confirm that the Match Strictness is set to Normal or Soft. If set to Off or Hard, the tolerance is too low for the typo you are testing. Also, verify the field containing the text is enabled in Search Scope.
Too many irrelevant product search results appear
The Soft setting tolerates significant typos and may match words that are only loosely related. Switch to Normal or Hard to tighten precision.
Exact WooCommerce product matches no longer work
Exact WooCommerce product matches still work at all strictness levels. If they do not, verify the product data is indexed correctly by clicking Force Index Rebuild in the Indexer section.
