🔍 Letter Pattern Finder
Find and highlight words matching specific letter patterns in text for phonics, education, and word analysis
Your Result:
🔍 Pattern "_at" - 3 matches found
📝 Matching Words:
Perfect for phonics education and word pattern recognition
How to Use This Letter Pattern Finder
The Letter Pattern Finder helps educators, students, and researchers identify words matching specific letter patterns in any text. Perfect for phonics instruction, language learning, and linguistic analysis.
- Paste Your Text: Copy and paste any text into the search area, from simple sentences to entire documents
- Enter Pattern: Type your pattern using underscores (_) as wildcards, or choose specific pattern types
- Choose Options: Select case sensitivity, highlight colors, and whether to show a word list
- Find Matches: Click "Find Patterns" to instantly highlight all matching words
- Review Results: See highlighted text and a summary list of all matching words
Common pattern examples: "_at" (cat, bat), "___ing" (running, walking), "qu_" (quick, quit), or use word length mode to find all 4-letter words.
How It Works
Our pattern matching system uses advanced text analysis to identify words based on your specified criteria:
- Text Processing: Breaks down your input text into individual words, handling punctuation and formatting
- Pattern Matching: Compares each word against your pattern using flexible wildcard or exact matching algorithms
- Smart Highlighting: Visually marks matching words in the original text while preserving formatting and context
- Results Summary: Generates a clean list of unique matches with occurrence counts and analysis
- Educational Features: Provides phonics-friendly output perfect for classroom use and language instruction
The tool supports multiple pattern types including wildcard matching for phonics patterns, exact length matching for word games, and prefix/suffix matching for morphological analysis. All processing happens instantly in your browser with no data transmitted to servers.
When You Might Need This
- • Phonics education: Find words with '_at' pattern (cat, bat, hat) for reading instruction
- • ESL teaching: Identify words ending in '_ing' to teach present continuous tense
- • Poetry analysis: Locate rhyming patterns like '_ight' (light, night, bright) in verses
- • Word games and puzzles: Find all 4-letter words or words starting with 'qu_'
- • Spelling practice: Highlight words with silent letters using patterns like 'kn_' or '_mb'
- • Reading comprehension: Find compound words by searching for patterns like '___dog' or 'fire___'
- • Language research: Analyze text for specific morphemes and word endings
- • Educational worksheets: Create exercises by finding words matching teaching patterns
- • Proofreading: Identify commonly misspelled patterns like 'ie_' vs 'ei_' words
- • Linguistics study: Research frequency of letter combinations and phonetic patterns in texts
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use the underscore wildcard for pattern matching?
Use underscore (_) to represent any single letter. For example, '_at' finds words like cat, bat, hat, mat. Use 'th_' to find the, this, that. You can use multiple underscores: '__at' finds words like coat, boat, goat (4 letters ending in 'at').
Can I find words of a specific length without knowing the letters?
Yes! Change the pattern type to 'Word length' and enter a number. For example, enter '5' to find all 5-letter words, or '3' for all 3-letter words. This is perfect for word games, crosswords, and creating educational exercises.
What's the difference between case-sensitive and case-insensitive matching?
Case-insensitive (default) treats 'Cat' and 'cat' as the same word. Case-sensitive treats them as different. Use case-sensitive when analyzing proper nouns, acronyms, or when exact capitalization matters for your educational or research purposes.
How can I find words that start or end with specific letters?
Use the pattern type dropdown. Select 'Starts with' and enter letters like 'pre' to find words beginning with 'pre'. Select 'Ends with' and enter 'ing' to find words ending in 'ing'. No wildcards needed - just type the exact letters you want to match.
Can I save or export the highlighted text and word lists?
Yes! Use the copy button to copy the results to your clipboard, or the download button to save as a text file. The exported text preserves the original formatting with clear indicators showing which words matched your pattern, perfect for educational materials and research documentation.