diff --git a/milli/src/search/matching_words.rs b/milli/src/search/matching_words.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..37a4f49c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/milli/src/search/matching_words.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,204 @@
+use std::collections::HashSet;
+use std::cmp::{min, Reverse};
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+use std::ops::{Index, IndexMut};
+
+use levenshtein_automata::{DFA, Distance};
+
+use crate::search::query_tree::{Operation, Query};
+
+use super::build_dfa;
+
+type IsPrefix = bool;
+
+/// The query tree builder is the interface to build a query tree.
+#[derive(Default)]
+pub struct MatchingWords {
+    dfas: Vec<(DFA, String, u8, IsPrefix)>,
+}
+
+impl MatchingWords {
+    /// Lists all words which can be considered as a match for the query tree.
+    pub fn from_query_tree(tree: &Operation) -> Self {
+        let mut dfas: Vec<_> = fetch_queries(tree)
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(|(w, t, p)| (build_dfa(w, t, p), w.to_string(), t, p))
+            .collect();
+        dfas.sort_unstable_by_key(|(_dfa, query_word, _typo, _is_prefix)| Reverse(query_word.len()));
+        Self { dfas }
+    }
+
+    /// Returns the number of matching bytes if the word matches.
+    pub fn matching_bytes(&self, word: &str) -> Option<usize> {
+        self.dfas.iter().find_map(|(dfa, query_word, typo, is_prefix)| match dfa.eval(word) {
+            Distance::Exact(t) if t <= *typo => {
+                if *is_prefix {
+                    let (_dist, len) = prefix_damerau_levenshtein(query_word.as_bytes(), word.as_bytes());
+                    Some(len)
+                } else {
+                    Some(word.len())
+                }
+            },
+            _otherwise => None,
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+/// Lists all words which can be considered as a match for the query tree.
+fn fetch_queries(tree: &Operation) -> HashSet<(&str, u8, IsPrefix)> {
+    fn resolve_ops<'a>(tree: &'a Operation, out: &mut HashSet<(&'a str, u8, IsPrefix)>) {
+        match tree {
+            Operation::Or(_, ops) | Operation::And(ops) | Operation::Consecutive(ops) => {
+                ops.as_slice().iter().for_each(|op| resolve_ops(op, out));
+            },
+            Operation::Query(Query { prefix, kind }) => {
+                let typo = if kind.is_exact() { 0 } else { kind.typo() };
+                out.insert((kind.word(), typo, *prefix));
+            },
+        }
+    }
+
+    let mut queries = HashSet::new();
+    resolve_ops(tree, &mut queries);
+    queries
+}
+
+// A simple wrapper around vec so we can get contiguous but index it like it's 2D array.
+struct N2Array<T> {
+    y_size: usize,
+    buf: Vec<T>,
+}
+
+impl<T: Clone> N2Array<T> {
+    fn new(x: usize, y: usize, value: T) -> N2Array<T> {
+        N2Array {
+            y_size: y,
+            buf: vec![value; x * y],
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> Index<(usize, usize)> for N2Array<T> {
+    type Output = T;
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn index(&self, (x, y): (usize, usize)) -> &T {
+        &self.buf[(x * self.y_size) + y]
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T> IndexMut<(usize, usize)> for N2Array<T> {
+    #[inline]
+    fn index_mut(&mut self, (x, y): (usize, usize)) -> &mut T {
+        &mut self.buf[(x * self.y_size) + y]
+    }
+}
+
+fn prefix_damerau_levenshtein(source: &[u8], target: &[u8]) -> (u32, usize) {
+    let (n, m) = (source.len(), target.len());
+
+    if n == 0 {
+        return (m as u32, 0);
+    }
+    if m == 0 {
+        return (n as u32, 0);
+    }
+
+    if n == m && source == target {
+        return (0, m);
+    }
+
+    let inf = n + m;
+    let mut matrix = N2Array::new(n + 2, m + 2, 0);
+
+    matrix[(0, 0)] = inf;
+    for i in 0..n + 1 {
+        matrix[(i + 1, 0)] = inf;
+        matrix[(i + 1, 1)] = i;
+    }
+    for j in 0..m + 1 {
+        matrix[(0, j + 1)] = inf;
+        matrix[(1, j + 1)] = j;
+    }
+
+    let mut last_row = BTreeMap::new();
+
+    for (row, char_s) in source.iter().enumerate() {
+        let mut last_match_col = 0;
+        let row = row + 1;
+
+        for (col, char_t) in target.iter().enumerate() {
+            let col = col + 1;
+            let last_match_row = *last_row.get(&char_t).unwrap_or(&0);
+            let cost = if char_s == char_t { 0 } else { 1 };
+
+            let dist_add = matrix[(row, col + 1)] + 1;
+            let dist_del = matrix[(row + 1, col)] + 1;
+            let dist_sub = matrix[(row, col)] + cost;
+            let dist_trans = matrix[(last_match_row, last_match_col)]
+                + (row - last_match_row - 1)
+                + 1
+                + (col - last_match_col - 1);
+
+            let dist = min(min(dist_add, dist_del), min(dist_sub, dist_trans));
+
+            matrix[(row + 1, col + 1)] = dist;
+
+            if cost == 0 {
+                last_match_col = col;
+            }
+        }
+
+        last_row.insert(char_s, row);
+    }
+
+    let mut minimum = (u32::max_value(), 0);
+
+    for x in 0..=m {
+        let dist = matrix[(n + 1, x + 1)] as u32;
+        if dist < minimum.0 {
+            minimum = (dist, x)
+        }
+    }
+
+    minimum
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    use crate::MatchingWords;
+    use crate::search::query_tree::{Operation, Query, QueryKind};
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matched_length() {
+        let query = "Levenste";
+        let text = "Levenshtein";
+
+        let (dist, length) = prefix_damerau_levenshtein(query.as_bytes(), text.as_bytes());
+        assert_eq!(dist, 1);
+        assert_eq!(&text[..length], "Levenshte");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matching_words() {
+        let query_tree = Operation::Or(false, vec![
+            Operation::And(vec![
+                Operation::Query(Query { prefix: true, kind: QueryKind::exact("split".to_string()) }),
+                Operation::Query(Query { prefix: false, kind: QueryKind::exact("this".to_string()) }),
+                Operation::Query(Query { prefix: true, kind: QueryKind::tolerant(1, "world".to_string()) }),
+            ]),
+        ]);
+
+        let matching_words = MatchingWords::from_query_tree(&query_tree);
+
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("word"), Some(4));
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("nyc"), None);
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("world"), Some(5));
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("splitted"), Some(5));
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("thisnew"), None);
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("borld"), Some(5));
+        assert_eq!(matching_words.matching_bytes("wordsplit"), Some(4));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/milli/src/search/mod.rs b/milli/src/search/mod.rs
index 623581706..fc64d020f 100644
--- a/milli/src/search/mod.rs
+++ b/milli/src/search/mod.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ use crate::search::criteria::r#final::{Final, FinalResult};
 use crate::{Index, DocumentId};
 
 pub use self::facet::{FacetCondition, FacetDistribution, FacetIter, Operator};
-pub use self::query_tree::MatchingWords;
+pub use self::matching_words::MatchingWords;
 use self::query_tree::QueryTreeBuilder;
 
 // Building these factories is not free.
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ mod criteria;
 mod distinct;
 mod facet;
 mod query_tree;
+mod matching_words;
 
 pub struct Search<'a> {
     query: Option<String>,
diff --git a/milli/src/search/query_tree.rs b/milli/src/search/query_tree.rs
index 4876e37c8..3125664ab 100644
--- a/milli/src/search/query_tree.rs
+++ b/milli/src/search/query_tree.rs
@@ -294,48 +294,6 @@ fn synonyms(ctx: &impl Context, word: &[&str]) -> heed::Result<Option<Vec<Operat
     }))
 }
 
-/// The query tree builder is the interface to build a query tree.
-#[derive(Default)]
-pub struct MatchingWords {
-    dfas: Vec<(DFA, u8)>,
-}
-
-impl MatchingWords {
-    /// List all words which can be considered as a match for the query tree.
-    pub fn from_query_tree(tree: &Operation) -> Self {
-        Self {
-            dfas: fetch_queries(tree).into_iter().map(|(w, t, p)| (build_dfa(w, t, p), t)).collect()
-        }
-    }
-
-    /// Return true if the word match.
-    pub fn matches(&self, word: &str) -> bool {
-        self.dfas.iter().any(|(dfa, typo)| match dfa.eval(word) {
-            Distance::Exact(t) => t <= *typo,
-            Distance::AtLeast(_) => false,
-        })
-    }
-}
-
-/// Lists all words which can be considered as a match for the query tree.
-fn fetch_queries(tree: &Operation) -> HashSet<(&str, u8, IsPrefix)> {
-    fn resolve_ops<'a>(tree: &'a Operation, out: &mut HashSet<(&'a str, u8, IsPrefix)>) {
-        match tree {
-            Operation::Or(_, ops) | Operation::And(ops) | Operation::Consecutive(ops) => {
-                ops.as_slice().iter().for_each(|op| resolve_ops(op, out));
-            },
-            Operation::Query(Query { prefix, kind }) => {
-                let typo = if kind.is_exact() { 0 } else { kind.typo() };
-                out.insert((kind.word(), typo, *prefix));
-            },
-        }
-    }
-
-    let mut queries = HashSet::new();
-    resolve_ops(tree, &mut queries);
-    queries
-}
-
 /// Main function that creates the final query tree from the primitive query.
 fn create_query_tree(
     ctx: &impl Context,
@@ -951,39 +909,6 @@ mod test {
         assert_eq!(expected, query_tree);
     }
 
-    #[test]
-    fn fetching_words() {
-        let query = "wordsplit nyc world";
-        let analyzer = Analyzer::new(AnalyzerConfig::<Vec<u8>>::default());
-        let result = analyzer.analyze(query);
-        let tokens = result.tokens();
-
-        let context = TestContext::default();
-        let (query_tree, _) = context.build(false, true, None, tokens).unwrap().unwrap();
-
-        let expected = hashset!{
-            ("word",                0, false),
-            ("nyc",                 0, false),
-            ("wordsplit",           2, false),
-            ("wordsplitnycworld",   2, true),
-            ("nature",              0, false),
-            ("new",                 0, false),
-            ("city",                0, false),
-            ("world",               1, true),
-            ("york",                0, false),
-            ("split",               0, false),
-            ("nycworld",            1, true),
-            ("earth",               0, false),
-            ("wordsplitnyc",        2, false),
-        };
-
-        let mut keys = context.postings.keys().collect::<Vec<_>>();
-        keys.sort_unstable();
-
-        let words = fetch_queries(&query_tree);
-        assert_eq!(expected, words);
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn words_limit() {
         let query = "\"hey my\" good friend";