Practical guides ↗

OpenRefine · Data preparation

Merge spelling variants

Clean inconsistent spellings of the same category.

3 min readScope: Desktop / browser UI

Try it in three steps

  1. Import a working copy and preserve the original file.
  2. Use Cluster and edit on the relevant column to inspect similar values.
  3. Review suggestions, choose a shared label and merge only genuine matches.

How to read the output

Example: “İstanbul” and “İstanbl” may refer to one category; verify sample rows after editing.

Test your understanding.

True or false?

Two similarly spelled categories should automatically be treated as identical.

Related concepts

Official source

OpenRefine · Documentation ↗

Documentation checked: . Steps are based on official documentation and have not been tested in the application. Menu names may differ by version and interface language.