# The fuzzier matching, the higher score? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [December 24, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009 "2018-12-24T15:35:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jevgenij](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jevgenij/32/33543_2.png) [@Jevgenij](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jevgenij)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/1 "2018-12-24T15:35:23Z")
Hello! My template is: ```auto ..., "code": { "type": "keyword", "copy_to": "full_text" }, ..., "full_text": { "type": "text" } ``` My query is: ```auto { "bool": { "must": { "match": { "full_text": { "query": "AD2480ME", "operator": "and", "fuzziness": "AUTO" } } } } } ``` And response is: ```auto { ..., "_score": 2.7549238, "_source": { "code": "AD3440ME", .... } }, { ..., "_score": 2.7438653, "_source": { "code": "AD2480ME", ... } } ``` So the question is why the exact matching record has lower score than fuzzy one? ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/2 "2018-12-24T16:02:57Z")
The [explain API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/search-explain.html) can help diagnose what's going on. I expect it may be to do with IDF (rarity) of the terms. What version of elasticsearch are you running and how many shards/docs per shard do you have? ---
**Author:** ![Jevgenij](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jevgenij/32/33543_2.png) [@Jevgenij](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jevgenij)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/3 "2018-12-25T20:22:16Z")
Elasticsearch version `6.5.2` Actually I've met the issue on my development dataset: ```auto $ curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/my_index/_count' ``` ```auto { "count": 18, "_shards": { "total": 5, "successful": 5, "skipped": 0, "failed": 0 } } ``` Mentioned `code` property is unique through index docs. Not sure what do you mean by > [@Mark\_Harwood](#): > > IDF (rarity) of the terms But Explain API has brought unexpected results. First of all I did: ```auto GET /my_index/_search ``` ```auto { "query": { "bool": { "must": { "match": { "full_text": { "query": "AD2480ME", "operator": "and", "fuzziness": "AUTO" } } } } } } ``` And got: ```auto { "took": 22, "timed_out": false, "_shards": { "total": 5, "successful": 5, "skipped": 0, "failed": 0 }, "hits": { "total": 2, "max_score": 0.7549239, "hits": [ { "_index": "my_index", "_type": "doc", "_id": "31", "_score": 0.7549239, "_source": { "code": "AD3440ME" } }, { "_index": "my_index", "_type": "doc", "_id": "22", "_score": 0.7438652, "_source": { "code": "AD2480ME" } } ] } } ``` So the next thing I did was: ```auto GET /my_index/_default_/31/_explain ``` and ```auto GET /my_index/_default_/22/_explain ``` both with ```auto { "query": { "bool": { "must": { "match": { "full_text": { "query": "AD2480ME", "operator": "and", "fuzziness": "AUTO" } } } } } } ``` And both returned me the same ```auto { "_index": "my_index", "_type": "_default_", "_id": "22", "matched": false, "explanation": { "value": 0, "description": "Failure to meet condition(s) of required/prohibited clause(s)", "details": [] } } ``` with a lot of different details about score counting, but with the same `"matched": false`. So, if I understand correctly, the exactly matching doc is not being seen as matching one. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/4 "2018-12-25T23:51:08Z")
> [@Jevgenij](#): > > GET /my\_index/_default_/31/\_explain Use “doc” not “\_default” here ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 10:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/5 "2018-12-26T10:10:17Z")
> [@Jevgenij](#): > > Mentioned `code` property is unique through index docs. 18 docs in 5 shards will have some funky scoring. The number of docs in each will be very uneven (maybe varying by 25%) so the IDF score of a unique term will be affected. Choices are: - Add more docs - Use one shard or - Use “[DFS](https://www.elastic.co/blog/understanding-query-then-fetch-vs-dfs-query-then-fetch)” style search ---
**Author:** ![Jevgenij](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jevgenij/32/33543_2.png) [@Jevgenij](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jevgenij)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/6 "2018-12-26T11:39:45Z")
Thank you for your time, attention to detail, corrections and right URLs to read! As soon as I switched the local development elasticsearch instance to one shard, the funky scoring disappeared and everything fell into place! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-fuzzier-matching-the-higher-score/162009/7 "2019-01-23T11:39:46Z")
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