“Smith” and “Smyth” are spelled differently but sound identical — and if your database has both spellings for the same customer, an exact-string search will never connect them. Phonetic algorithms like Soundex and Metaphone solve exactly this problem by encoding words based on how they sound rather than how they’re spelled.
What Is the Soundex & Metaphone Generator?
Enter a list of names or words (one per line), and instantly get both their Soundex code (a letter + 3 digits, e.g. S530) and a simplified Metaphone code, side by side in a table — making it easy to see at a glance which words sound alike even though they’re spelled differently.
How to Use It
- Open the tool at /tools/soundex-metaphone-generator.
- Enter one name or word per line.
- Read the Soundex and Metaphone codes generated for each.
- Compare codes across rows to spot phonetic matches.
Key Features
- Standard Soundex algorithm matching Wikipedia’s canonical test cases exactly, including tricky H/W-skip cases like “Ashcraft”.
- Simplified Metaphone algorithm covering the most common transformation rules (silent letters, digraphs, initial-letter exceptions).
- Batch processing — enter many names at once and compare them all in one table.
- Fully client-side — no names or personal data ever leave your browser.
When to Use This Tool
- Deduplicating a customer or contact database where the same name may be spelled multiple ways.
- Building a “sounds like” search feature for names in an application.
- Learning how classic phonetic matching algorithms work, with real, checkable output.
Try It Now
Open Soundex & Metaphone Generator directly, or press ⌘K and type the tool name from anywhere on the site.
Part of the Text Tools collection on WebdevToolbox — free, browser-based developer tools with no login required.