How to Compare Two Strings for Similarity in Excel: 6 Methods

Method 1 – Using Highlight Cells Rules Feature

Steps:

• Select all the cells from B5 to C10.

• Go to the Home tab and click on Conditional Formatting.
• Go to Highlight Cells Rules and click on Duplicate Values.

• Click on OK.

• This should highlight the values that are similar.

Method 2 – Applying New Rule Feature

Steps:

• Select the cells from B5 to C10.

• Navigate to Conditional Formatting under the Home tab and click on New Rule.

• In the new window, select Format only unique or duplicate values and click on Format.

• Select a color under the Fill tab and click OK in this window and the next window.

• This will highlight the values that are similar in the dataset.

Method 3 – Utilizing Equal Operator

Steps:

• Go to cell D5 and insert the following formula:

• Press Enter and copy this formula to the other cells using Fill Handle.
• This will give TRUE or FALSE values based on whether the values match or not.

Method 4 – Comparing Using EXACT Function

Steps:

• This method, double-click on cell D5 and insert the formula below:

• Press the Enter key, and consequently, this will insert TRUE if the values are precisely similar.

Method 5 – Using SEARCH Function

Steps:

• Start this method, navigate to cell D5 and type in the following formula:

• Press the Enter key or click on any blank cell.
• This will give you the result as similar or not for all the data.

Method 6 – Applying VBA Code.

Steps:

• Go to the Developer tab and select Visual Basic.

• Select Insert in the VBA window and click on Module.

• Type in the formula below in the new window:

Sub Highlight()
    Dim xRg1 As Range
    Dim xRg2 As Range
    Dim xTxt As String
    Dim xCell1 As Range
    Dim xCell2 As Range
    Dim I As Long
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim xLen As Integer
    Dim xDiffs As Boolean
    On Error Resume Next
    If ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Count > 1 Then
      xTxt = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.AddressLocal
    Else
      xTxt = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.AddressLocal
    End If
lOne:
    Set xRg1 = Application.InputBox("Range A:", "Select Range", xTxt, , , , , 8)
    If xRg1 Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    If xRg1.Columns.Count > 1 Or xRg1.Areas.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "Multiple ranges or columns have been selected ", vbInformation, "Similar or Not"
        GoTo lOne
    End If
lTwo:
    Set xRg2 = Application.InputBox("Range B:", "Select Range", "", , , , , 8)
    If xRg2 Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    If xRg2.Columns.Count > 1 Or xRg2.Areas.Count > 1 Then
        MsgBox "Multiple ranges or columns have been selected ", vbInformation, "Similar or Not"
        GoTo lTwo
    End If
    If xRg1.CountLarge <> xRg2.CountLarge Then
       MsgBox "Two selected ranges must have the same numbers of cells ", vbInformation, "Similar or Not"
       GoTo lTwo
    End If
    xDiffs = (MsgBox("Click Yes to highlight similarities, click No to highlight differences ", vbYesNo + vbQuestion, "Similar or Not") = vbNo)
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    xRg2.Font.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
    For I = 1 To xRg1.Count
        Set xCell1 = xRg1.Cells(I)
        Set xCell2 = xRg2.Cells(I)
        If xCell1.Value2 = xCell2.Value2 Then
            If Not xDiffs Then xCell2.Font.Color = vbRed
        Else
            xLen = Len(xCell1.Value2)
            For J = 1 To xLen
                If Not xCell1.Characters(J, 1).Text = xCell2.Characters(J, 1).Text Then Exit For
            Next J
            If Not xDiffs Then
                If J <= Len(xCell2.Value2) And J > 1 Then
                    xCell2.Characters(1, J - 1).Font.Color = vbRed
                End If
            Else
                If J <= Len(xCell2.Value2) Then
                    xCell2.Characters(J, Len(xCell2.Value2) - J + 1).Font.Color = vbRed
                End If
            End If
        End If
    Next
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

• Open the macro from the Developer tab by clicking on Macros.

• In the Macro window, select the Highlight macro and click Run.

• Insert the first range in the Select Range window and click OK.

• Select the second range and again click OK.

• Press Yes to confirm.

• The VBA code will highlight a similar value in cell C8.

Handling Misspelled Names or Near Matches

In many real-world cases, users want to identify similar names that may have been entered with typos or slight variations (for example, Jonh Smith vs John Smith). Standard formulas like EXACT or =A1=B1 only detect perfect matches, so they will not help in these cases.

To handle this, you can try:

1. Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel

• Install Microsoft’s free Fuzzy Lookup Add-In.
• It can compare two lists of names and return similarity scores, even if there are spelling differences.

2. SOUNDEX Function (VBA or Excel 365)

• SOUNDEX converts text into a phonetic code, so similar-sounding names (like Sara and Sarah) can be matched.

3. Power Query Approximate Matching

• Load your data into Power Query.
• Use merge operations with fuzzy matching enabled to catch near-duplicates across different lists.

These tools make it easier to highlight names that are similar but not identical, which is often the real goal when working with customer lists, employee databases, or survey data.

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