diff --git a/raptor-http/src/main.rs b/raptor-http/src/main.rs
index 75bbacb72..ba0a136bb 100644
--- a/raptor-http/src/main.rs
+++ b/raptor-http/src/main.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 #[macro_use] extern crate serde_derive;
 
 use std::env;
-use std::io::Write;
+use std::fs::File;
+use std::path::Path;
+use std::collections::hash_set::HashSet;
+use std::io::{self, BufReader, BufRead, Write};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::error::Error;
 use std::str::from_utf8_unchecked;
@@ -20,12 +23,28 @@ struct Document<'a> {
     description: &'a str,
 }
 
-fn search<M, D>(metadata: M, database: D, query: &str) -> Result<String, Box<Error>>
+type CommonWords = HashSet<String>;
+
+fn common_words<P>(path: P) -> io::Result<CommonWords>
+where P: AsRef<Path>,
+{
+    let file = File::open(path)?;
+    let file = BufReader::new(file);
+    let mut set = HashSet::new();
+    for line in file.lines().filter_map(|l| l.ok()) {
+        for word in line.split_whitespace() {
+            set.insert(word.to_owned());
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(set)
+}
+
+fn search<M, D>(metadata: M, database: D, common_words: &CommonWords, query: &str) -> Result<String, Box<Error>>
 where M: AsRef<Metadata>,
       D: AsRef<DB>,
 {
     let mut automatons = Vec::new();
-    for query in query.split_whitespace() {
+    for query in query.split_whitespace().filter(|q| !common_words.contains(*q)) {
         let lev = automaton::build(query);
         automatons.push(lev);
     }
@@ -78,10 +97,12 @@ fn main() {
     let db = DB::open_for_read_only(DBOptions::default(), rocksdb, false).unwrap();
     let db = Arc::new(db);
 
+    let common_words = common_words("fr.stopwords.txt").unwrap();
+
     let routes = warp::path("search")
         .and(warp::query())
         .map(move |query: SearchQuery| {
-            let body = search(meta.clone(), db.clone(), &query.query).unwrap();
+            let body = search(meta.clone(), db.clone(), &common_words, &query.query).unwrap();
             body
         })
         .with(warp::reply::with::header("Content-Type", "application/json"));
diff --git a/raptor-indexer/src/main.rs b/raptor-indexer/src/main.rs
index ad6304341..6609ab3f3 100644
--- a/raptor-indexer/src/main.rs
+++ b/raptor-indexer/src/main.rs
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@
 
 #[macro_use] extern crate serde_derive;
 
+use std::path::Path;
 use std::collections::{HashSet, BTreeMap};
+use std::io::{self, BufReader, BufRead};
 use std::fs::File;
-use std::io::{BufReader, BufRead};
 use std::iter;
 
 use raptor::{MetadataBuilder, DocIndex};
@@ -20,28 +21,31 @@ struct Product {
     ft: String,
 }
 
+type CommonWords = HashSet<String>;
+
+fn common_words<P>(path: P) -> io::Result<CommonWords>
+where P: AsRef<Path>,
+{
+    let file = File::open(path)?;
+    let file = BufReader::new(file);
+    let mut set = HashSet::new();
+    for line in file.lines().filter_map(|l| l.ok()) {
+        for word in line.split_whitespace() {
+            set.insert(word.to_owned());
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(set)
+}
+
 fn main() {
     let data = File::open("products.json_lines").unwrap();
     let data = BufReader::new(data);
 
-    let common_words = {
-        match File::open("fr.stopwords.txt") {
-            Ok(file) => {
-                let file = BufReader::new(file);
-                let mut set = HashSet::new();
-                for line in file.lines().filter_map(|l| l.ok()) {
-                    for word in line.split_whitespace() {
-                        set.insert(word.to_owned());
-                    }
-                }
-                set
-            },
-            Err(e) => {
-                eprintln!("{:?}", e);
-                HashSet::new()
-            },
-        }
-    };
+    let common_path = "fr.stopwords.txt";
+    let common_words = common_words(common_path).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+        println!("{:?}: {:?}", common_path, e);
+        HashSet::new()
+    });
 
     // TODO add a subcommand to pack these files in a tar.xxx archive
     let random_name = moby_name_gen::random_name();
diff --git a/raptor-search/src/main.rs b/raptor-search/src/main.rs
index 9ab993c60..b04cbcefb 100644
--- a/raptor-search/src/main.rs
+++ b/raptor-search/src/main.rs
@@ -1,14 +1,33 @@
 use std::env;
+use std::fs::File;
+use std::path::Path;
+use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::str::from_utf8_unchecked;
-use std::io::{self, Write};
+use std::io::{self, BufReader, BufRead, Write};
 use elapsed::measure_time;
 use fst::Streamer;
 use rocksdb::{DB, DBOptions, IngestExternalFileOptions};
 use raptor::{automaton, Metadata, RankedStream};
 
-fn search(metadata: &Metadata, database: &DB, query: &str) {
+type CommonWords = HashSet<String>;
+
+fn common_words<P>(path: P) -> io::Result<CommonWords>
+where P: AsRef<Path>,
+{
+    let file = File::open(path)?;
+    let file = BufReader::new(file);
+    let mut set = HashSet::new();
+    for line in file.lines().filter_map(|l| l.ok()) {
+        for word in line.split_whitespace() {
+            set.insert(word.to_owned());
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(set)
+}
+
+fn search(metadata: &Metadata, database: &DB, common_words: &CommonWords, query: &str) {
     let mut automatons = Vec::new();
-    for query in query.split_whitespace() {
+    for query in query.split_whitespace().filter(|q| !common_words.contains(*q)) {
         let lev = automaton::build(query);
         automatons.push(lev);
     }
@@ -47,6 +66,12 @@ fn main() {
     });
     println!("{} to load the SST file in RocksDB and reopen it for read-only", elapsed);
 
+    let common_path = "fr.stopwords.txt";
+    let common_words = common_words(common_path).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+        println!("{:?}: {:?}", common_path, e);
+        HashSet::new()
+    });
+
     loop {
         print!("Searching for: ");
         io::stdout().flush().unwrap();
@@ -57,7 +82,7 @@ fn main() {
 
         if query.is_empty() { break }
 
-        let (elapsed, _) = measure_time(|| search(&meta, &db, &query));
+        let (elapsed, _) = measure_time(|| search(&meta, &db, &common_words, &query));
         println!("Finished in {}", elapsed);
     }
 }