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Soundex and Metaphone generator

Turn words into phonetic codes to find names that sound alike.

Input
List B (to compare against)
Output
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Soundex and Metaphone generator
Paste a list of names or words and this tool generates a phonetic code for each one — a short fingerprint of how it sounds rather than how it is spelled. Turn on Soundex, Metaphone, Double Metaphone and Kölner Phonetik independently and compare their codes side by side. It is built for exactly the problem those algorithms solve: "Catherine" and "Katherine" look different but should match, and a misspelled "Smyth" should still turn up next to "Smith".
Choose whether the input is split word by word or line by line, so a one-name-per-line list and a paragraph of running text both work. Turn on "Group words with matching codes" to collapse the table into clusters of words that share a code — the fastest way to spot near-duplicate names in a contact list or a set of survey responses. Paste a second list into the "List B" field and the tool switches to comparison mode instead, matching each word in your main list against list B by phonetic code — useful for reconciling two spellings of the same customer or author name. Output as a readable table or as CSV for a spreadsheet.
Soundex keeps the first letter and reduces the rest to three digits, which is fast but coarse. Metaphone and the simplified Double Metaphone variant here track English pronunciation rules more closely, including silent letters and digraphs like "ph" and "gh". Kölner Phonetik follows the German-language rules instead, so it is the better choice for German names. None of the four is perfect on its own — that is exactly why the tool lets you run several at once and compare.
Everything runs locally in your browser; the names you paste are never uploaded anywhere. Copy the result, download it as a .txt file, or send it straight to the input of another tool to keep working on it.
FAQ
What is the difference between Soundex and Metaphone?
Soundex is the older, simpler algorithm: it keeps the first letter and reduces the rest of the word to three digits. Metaphone models English pronunciation more closely — silent letters and digraphs like "ph" or "gh" — so it usually groups names more accurately, at the cost of being English-specific.
When should I use Kölner Phonetik instead?
Kölner Phonetik encodes German spelling and pronunciation rules, so it handles German names and words noticeably better than the English-oriented algorithms. Use it alongside Soundex or Metaphone rather than instead of them if your list is mixed.
How does the "group similar" option decide what counts as a match?
It combines the codes from every algorithm you have turned on into one key and puts words with an identical key in the same group. Turning on more algorithms makes a match stricter, since every enabled code has to agree.
Can I compare two separate lists instead of one?
Yes. Paste your second list into "List B" and the tool switches to comparison mode: each word in the main input is checked against list B and matched by phonetic code, which is useful for reconciling two differently spelled versions of the same list.
Is my list uploaded anywhere?
No. Every phonetic code is generated entirely in your browser — your words and names never leave your device.