Fuzzy matching (computer-assisted translation)
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Fuzzy matching is a technique used in computer-assisted translation as a special case of record linkage. It works with matches that may be less than 100% perfect when finding correspondences between segments of a text and entries in a database of previous translations. It usually operates at sentence-level segments, but some translation technology allows matching at a phrasal level. It is used when the translator is working with translation memory (TM). It uses approximate string matching.
When an exact match cannot be found in the TM database for the text being translated, there is an option to search for a match that is less than exact; the translator sets the threshold of the fuzzy match to a percentage value less than 100%, and the database will then return any matches in its memory corresponding to that percentage. Its primary function is to assist the translator by speeding up the translation process; fuzzy matching is not designed to replace the human translator.