Soundex / Metaphone
Phonetic codes for fuzzy name matching.
| Word | Soundex | Metaphone |
|---|---|---|
| Robert | R163 | RBRT |
| Rupert | R163 | RPRT |
| Robins | R152 | RBNS |
| Sarah | S600 | SRH |
| Sally | S400 | SLY |
| Knight | K523 | NT |
| Night | N230 | NT |
| Thompson | T512 | 0MPSN |
| Tomson | T525 | TMSN |
Soundex (Russell & Odell, 1918) was patented for the US Census - it groups names that sound similar into a single 4-character code. Metaphone (Lawrence Philips, 1990) handles English consonant clusters better. Useful for fuzzy name matching, deduplication, and "did you mean" features.
About
Type names (one per line). The tool computes Russell Soundex (1918) and Metaphone (Lawrence Philips, 1990). Names that sound similar share a code, useful for fuzzy match and 'did you mean' lookups.
How to use
- Paste names (one per line).
- Read the codes.
FAQ
Soundex or Metaphone?+
Soundex is older (1918) and simpler - 4 character output. Metaphone (1990) handles English consonant clusters better. Most production use is Double Metaphone, the more accurate variant.