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(ispell.info)Near misses

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Definition of a near miss
=========================

   Two words are near each other if they can be made identical with one
of the following changes to one of the words:

     Insert a blank space
     Interchange two adjacent letters.
     Change one letter.
     Delete one letter.
     Add one letter.

   Someday, perhaps ispell will be extended so that words that sound
alike would also be considered near misses.  If you would like to
implement this, see Knuth, Volume 3, page 392 for a description of the
Soundex algorithm which might apply.