Let’s just say you will give a presentation in front of the board members, and there are only five minutes left. But while revising the presentation speech, you find several incorrect words, which need to be replaced asap with correct words.
How to search and replace those misspelled words as fast as possible?
Well, to correct the words in a minute! You can use the Find and Replace feature of MS Word. Microsoft added this feature in their Word app to quickly fix the wrong words.
Not only that,there are some advanced options also available in the find and replace function. With those, you can take full advantage of this feature.
This article is for you if you don’t know how to use Find and Replace words/texts in MS Word. To learn the full features of this function, read this article till the end.
Let’s begin the Word replacement!
Check out our separate post on how to Fix: Find and Replace Not Working On Microsoft Word
When Should You Use Find and Replace Feature in MS Word?
The Find and Replace feature is a gold feature in MS Word. It not only makes the job easier but also saves time. You will find it more applicable when you can fully use this feature to its advanced level.
But, exactly when should you use the Find and Replace feature in MS Word? Let’s find those out.
Here is why you should use this feature:
To:
- Speed up typing and formatting tasks.
- Maintain absolute consistency in the document.
- Reverse symbols.
- Add special characters in the word.
- Edit partial words and phrases.
- Eliminate extra spaces.
- Separate the character in the numerals.
- Correct any misspelled words across the entire article.
Those are the reasons behind you might want to use the Find and Replace feature in MS Word.
How to Find and Replace Text in MS Word on Windows
When using MS Word on your Windows PC, you may need to correct some words or other unavoidable mistakes. You can change all the words as they should be with the help of the Find and Replace feature of MS Word. Below is the short step-by-step guide to using the word replacing feature of MS Word.
Here are the steps to use the Find and Replace feature in MS word in Windows:
- Open the Doc file in MS Word.
- Click on the Home from Words ribbon from the top left side.
- Click on the Replace button from the top right-hand side of the screen or you can press Ctrl + H. Find and Replace box will pop up at once.
- Click on the Replace tab and type the word you want to find in the Find what text box.
- Type the word that you want to replace within the Replace text box.
You will see Replace, Replace All, and Find Next options. To continue replacing the word, keep following the steps.
- Click on the Replace option to replace the first word you have typed in the Find what box, not all the same word in the word file.
- Choose the words which need to change among all the exact words within the article and click on Find Next.
- Click on Replace button after finding the exact changeable word. Moreover, if the word is misspelled in the entire article, click on the Replace All button only.
Note: If you are using the MS Word Online Version, the same steps are also applicable for the web variant of the Word.
Suppose you want to replace, make sure with ensure. To do this type, make sure in the Find what box and type ensure in the Replace with box. Assume there are a total of 8 make sure words, but you don’t want to replace all.
To do this, click on the Find Next button, and you will find make sure word is selected only. Choose from which passage you want to replace the word. Only click on the Replace button then.
In contrast, you can go for the Replace All button in case you want to change it all. 
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How to Find and Replace Text in MS Word on Mac
Mac users can also use the Find and Replace features along with Windows. The steps are quite the same as the Windows MS Word version. So, let’s see how to replace a word in MS Word from the macOS.
Here are the steps to Find and Replace Word in MS Word on Mac:
- Open the MS Word file on your Mac.
- Take the cursor to the top of the screen until you see Mac’s top toolbar.
- Click on the Edit You will see a drop-down menu.
- Go to the Find > Replace You will see a pop-up sidebar with Find, Replace and Replace all options. You can also press Shift + Command + H to launch the Find and Replace option.
- Type the word you want to replace in the Search for.. After typing the misspelled word, type the accurate word or text in the Replace with.. Field.
- Click on the Find button to locate the exact word. After ensuring that the marked text is the same word, you want to change, select Replace button.
- Click on the Replace All button to replace all the exact words from the entire article.
After replacing all the exact text, phrase, or word, you will see a pop-up with All done message. Now, you have successfully replaced all the incorrect words.
Check out our separate post on how to Fix: Microsoft Word Table Of Contents Not Updating
How to Use Advanced Find and Replace Feature on MS Word
Doing anything by going to the advanced level is lit. Advanced level is the ultimate path where you can find anything to complete the task with pleasure. While using the Find and Replace feature, you can also fulfill your task using its advanced features.
You can use the advanced features to make the whole work more accurate and save time. To enter the advance options in MS Word, just press Ctrl + H and click on the More >> button. After clicking on the More>> button, the Window will expand from the downside and see more options. 
Options such as Match case, Find Whole words only, Use wildcards, Sounds like, Match prefix, Match suffix, Find all word forms, and so on. Each of these options has its functionality. Let’s find out some of the functionality of the function.
Match case
This option will find only those instances which are written the same way. To be more specific, this option finds text that matches the uppercase and lowercase letters you have typed.
Find whole word only
When you click on this option, MS Word will search for the entire word, not only for other terms, just like the match case option.
When you search for a microphone, it will show you a microphone, not just microfibre. 
Use wildcards
With this search and replace option, you can search for multiple characters. This option allows you to use question marks, asterisks, brackets, or other same-type symbols. 
Check out our separate post on how to Microsoft Word Ctrl+Z not Working
Sounds like (English)
The function name itself declares what it does. This search option will help you find any word that exactly sounds like the given the word. In other terms, this is the best option for finding homonyms and words that have varying spellings.
Suppose you searched for too, the finding result will be to, too, and two.
Find all word forms (English)
With this search option in Word, you can look for the word you searched for, with other cases that are either plural or in a different tense.
When you search for the word be, with Find all word forms you will find are, is also as marked. 
Match prefix and Match Suffix
This option will let you search for the words that have the same beginning or the same ending. The suffix is a word part added to the end of a word, and the prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word.
When you search for the word help enabling the suffix, the marked-up search result will be helpful. When you use the prefix and search for love, it will show both love and loved.
Ignore punctuation characters and Ignore white-space characters
This option is self-explanatory itself. It will search for any words and doesn’t mind if there are spaces, periods, hyphens, and other symbols in the word.
Suppose you search for Right click, and you will also see marked-up search result with Right-click.
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FAQs
How do I use Find and Replace in Word?
To use the Find and Replace in Word, just press Ctrl + H if you use MS Word on Windows OS. For macOS users, press Shift + Command + H to open this feature in Word.
What tab is Find and Replace in Word?
Click on the Ribbon’s Home tab and the Replace button in the Editing button group. The Find and Replace dialogue box open in Replace tab.
What is the ‘Sounds like (English)’ option in Find and Replace in Word?
Sounds like (English) in the Find and Replace will help you to search for homonyms words in the word file. Suppose you searched for too, the finding result will be to, too, and two.
Final Thoughts
MS Word is the most used word app worldwide. It will be hard to find a person who doesn’t use the Word app for his daily work basis. Content writers use this app as their daily driver. Find and Replace is a must tool to correct mistakes or replace any text or words in the Word file.
I have shown you how to use this feature and its advanced options in this article. This unavoidable feature will help you to find any word with a Match case, Match prefix, and suffix, or with Sounds like options.
I hope you read this article till the end. For any further assistance, knock me in the comment section. See you at the next one.
