diff --git a/milli/src/proximity.rs b/milli/src/proximity.rs
index 62f490119..8261015a3 100644
--- a/milli/src/proximity.rs
+++ b/milli/src/proximity.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ use std::cmp;
 
 use crate::{relative_from_absolute_position, Position};
 
-pub const MAX_DISTANCE: u32 = 8;
+pub const MAX_DISTANCE: u32 = 4;
 
 pub fn index_proximity(lhs: u32, rhs: u32) -> u32 {
     if lhs <= rhs {
diff --git a/milli/src/search/new/ranking_rule_graph/proximity/build.rs b/milli/src/search/new/ranking_rule_graph/proximity/build.rs
index 660d59b3e..11c68a68b 100644
--- a/milli/src/search/new/ranking_rule_graph/proximity/build.rs
+++ b/milli/src/search/new/ranking_rule_graph/proximity/build.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ use crate::search::new::query_term::LocatedQueryTermSubset;
 use crate::search::new::SearchContext;
 use crate::Result;
 
+const MAX_PROX: usize = crate::proximity::MAX_DISTANCE as usize;
+
 pub fn build_edges(
     _ctx: &mut SearchContext,
     conditions_interner: &mut DedupInterner<ProximityCondition>,
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ pub fn build_edges(
     }
 
     let mut conditions = vec![];
-    for cost in right_ngram_length..(7 + right_ngram_length) {
+    for cost in right_ngram_length..(MAX_PROX + right_ngram_length) {
         conditions.push((
             cost as u32,
             conditions_interner.insert(ProximityCondition::Uninit {
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ pub fn build_edges(
     }
 
     conditions.push((
-        (7 + right_ngram_length) as u32,
+        (MAX_PROX + right_ngram_length) as u32,
         conditions_interner.insert(ProximityCondition::Term { term: right_term.clone() }),
     ));
 
diff --git a/milli/src/update/index_documents/extract/extract_word_pair_proximity_docids.rs b/milli/src/update/index_documents/extract/extract_word_pair_proximity_docids.rs
index 6707fc268..8efb8e08c 100644
--- a/milli/src/update/index_documents/extract/extract_word_pair_proximity_docids.rs
+++ b/milli/src/update/index_documents/extract/extract_word_pair_proximity_docids.rs
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ fn document_word_positions_into_sorter(
     while !word_positions_heap.is_empty() {
         while let Some(peeked_word_position) = word_positions_heap.pop() {
             ordered_peeked_word_positions.push(peeked_word_position);
-            if ordered_peeked_word_positions.len() == 7 {
+            if ordered_peeked_word_positions.len() == (MAX_DISTANCE - 1) as usize {
                 break;
             }
         }