Edit Distance in Google Sheets & Excel — =VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2)

What this pulls

Measure how alike two strings are. =VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2) returns edit distance and similarity percent — Sheets or Excel.

It's one of 300+ live sources you reach with a single =VERVE()function — served from APIVerve's production data engine, billed at 1 credit per resolved cell, and refreshed on whatever cadence you set. No API keys to wrangle, no scripts, no exports.

See it in a cell

A real example — these inputs, and the values they land in your sheet.

levenshteindistance.xlsxlive

B1fx=VERVE("levenshteindistance")

Distance

Similarity

57.14

Match Level

medium

String1 Length

String2 Length

String1

kitten

Example resultpulled live from APIVerve1 credit / cell

Ways to use it

Clean a column of text

Fill =VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2) beside messy text and get the normalized, analyzed, or translated version back — data cleaning without leaving the grid.

Analyze at scale

Score or classify a whole column of responses, reviews, or messages in one fill instead of one-by-one.

Compose with other formulas

Nest Edit Distance's output inside your existing SUM, IF, or CONCAT logic like any other cell value.

Use it in your sheet

The same function works in both apps — install once, sign in with your key, and type it into any cell.

Google SheetsAdd-on

Install from the Workspace Marketplace, then drop the formula into a cell. Autocomplete suggests the source and its fields.

=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2)

Microsoft ExcelAdd-in

Same function, same arguments, same key — in Excel on desktop, the web, or mobile. Drag to fill a whole column.

=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2)

Fields you can pull

Add a field name as the last argument to land just that value in the cell.

Distance=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "distance")
Similarity=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "similarity")
Match Level=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "matchLevel")
String1 Length=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "string1Length")
String2 Length=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "string2Length")
String1=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "string1")
String2=VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2, "string2")

Edit Distance, answered

Everything you need to wire it into a sheet.

How do I pull Edit Distance into a spreadsheet?

Install the VerveSheets add-on, sign in with your key, and type =VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2) into any cell. The same function works in Google Sheets and Excel — no scripts, no API wiring.

How many credits does each Edit Distance cell cost?

Each resolved cell costs 1 credit. Filling a column of ten rows costs ten times that; a cell only re-bills when it actually refreshes, so a static sheet doesn't keep charging.

Can I fill a whole column at once?

Yes. Reference a range instead of a single cell — e.g. point Edit Distance at A2:A50 — and it returns a value for every row in one call, or just drag =VERVE("levenshteindistance", A2, B2) down like any spreadsheet function.

Does Edit Distance work in Excel as well as Google Sheets?

Yes. It's the same =VERVE() function with the same arguments and the same key in both — build a sheet in one and it behaves identically in the other.

How current is the data?

Edit Distance is served live from APIVerve's production data engine, and cells recalculate on the refresh cadence you choose — every open, hourly, or every 30 minutes.

Where does the data come from, and what shows on my bill?

VerveSheets runs on APIVerve, our production data engine; Edit Distance is one of 300+ sources on the same key. Invoices and card statements show APIVERVE.

Edit Distance

Clean a column of text

Analyze at scale

Compose with other formulas

Edit Distance, answered

Put Edit Distance in your next spreadsheet. Add the extension, paste the formula, and the cell keeps itself current.

Scaling up?