GitPedia

Metaphone

Fast Metaphone implementation

From words·Updated May 6, 2026·View on GitHub·

[![Build][build-badge]][build] [![Coverage][coverage-badge]][coverage] [![Downloads][downloads-badge]][downloads] [![Size][size-badge]][size] The project is written primarily in JavaScript, distributed under the MIT License license, first published in 2014. Key topics include: algorithm, metaphone, natural-language, phonetic, soundex.

Latest release: 2.0.1
November 2, 2022View Changelog →

metaphone

Build
Coverage
Downloads
Size

Metaphone phonetic algorithm.

Contents

What is this?

This package exposes a phonetic algorithm.
That means it gets a certain string (typically an English word), and turns it
into a code, which can then be compared to other codes (of other words), to
check if they are (likely) pronounced the same.

When should I use this?

You’re probably dealing with natural language, and know you need this, if
you’re here!

Depending on your needs, double-metaphone might be better.

Depending on your goals, you likely want to additionally use a stemmer (such as
stemmer).

Install

This package is ESM only.
In Node.js (version 14.14+, 16.0+), install with npm:

sh
npm install metaphone

In Deno with esm.sh:

js
import {metaphone} from 'https://esm.sh/metaphone@2'

In browsers with esm.sh:

html
<script type="module"> import {metaphone} from 'https://esm.sh/metaphone@2?bundle' </script>

Use

js
import {metaphone} from 'metaphone' metaphone('michael') // => 'MXL' metaphone('crevalle') // => 'KRFL' metaphone('Filipowitz') // => 'FLPWTS' metaphone('Xavier') // => 'SFR' metaphone('delicious') // => 'TLSS' metaphone('acceptingness') // => 'AKSPTNKNS' metaphone('allegrettos') // => 'ALKRTS'

With stemmer:

js
import {metaphone} from 'metaphone' import {stemmer} from 'stemmer' metaphone(stemmer('acceptingness')) // => 'AKSPTNK' metaphone(stemmer('allegrettos')) // => 'ALKRT'

API

This package exports the identifier metaphone.
There is no default export.

metaphone(value)

Get the metaphone code from a given value.

value

Value to use (string, required).

Returns

Metaphone code for value (string).

CLI

txt
Usage: metaphone [options] <words...> Metaphone implementation Options: -h, --help output usage information -v, --version output version number Usage: # output phonetics $ metaphone considerations detestable # KNSTRXNS TTSTBL # output phonetics from stdin $ echo 'hiccups vileness' | metaphone # HKKPS FLNS # with stemmer $ echo 'vileness' | stemmer | metaphone # FL

Types

This package is fully typed with TypeScript.
It exports no additional types.

Compatibility

This package is at least compatible with all maintained versions of Node.js.
As of now, that is Node.js 14.14+ and 16.0+.
It also works in Deno and modern browsers.

Contribute

Yes please!
See How to Contribute to Open Source.

Security

This package is safe.

License

MIT © Titus Wormer

<!-- Definitions -->

Contributors

Showing top 2 contributors by commit count.

View all contributors on GitHub →

This article is auto-generated from words/metaphone via the GitHub API.Last fetched: 6/22/2026