I am posting the following query against the _explain endpoint of a document with "three" in the title field
{
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": [
{
"bool": {
"should": [
{
"more_like_this": {
"min_doc_freq": 1,
"fields": [
"title"
],
"max_query_terms": 10,
"like": "Three Reasons Spice Girls Will Reunite (And Three Why They Won't)",
"min_term_freq": 1
}
},
{
"more_like_this": {
"min_doc_freq": 1,
"fields": [
"description"
],
"max_query_terms": 10,
"like": "Three Reasons Spice Girls Will Reunite (And Three Why They Won't)",
"min_term_freq": 1
}
}
]
}
}
]
}
}
}
The response/explanation I get:
"matched": false,
"explanation": {
"value": 0,
"description": "Failure to meet condition(s) of required/prohibited clause(s)",
"details": [
{
"value": 0,
"description": "no match on required clause (((title:girl title:and title:why title:will title:thei title:won title:reason title:reunit title:spice title:three)~3) ((description:and description:why description:thei description:won description:girl description:will description:reason description:spice description:reunit description:three)~3))",
"details": [
{
"value": 0,
"description": "No matching clauses",
"details": []
}
]
},
{
"value": 0,
"description": "match on required clause, product of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 0,
"description": "# clause",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 0.023566995,
"description": "_type:media, product of:",
"details": [
{
"value": 1,
"description": "boost",
"details": []
},
{
"value": 0.023566995,
"description": "queryNorm",
"details": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
However, if I increase either min_term_freq from 1 to 2, I get a match. Similarly, I get a match if I remove several terms from the like query, for example "Three Reasons Spice (And Three)".
Why does this make sense that it would match as the criteria gets more strict (min_term_freq increases) or the number of terms that can match decreases?