A method includes computing multiple term distances between pairs of multiple first string terms in a first string and multiple second string terms in a second string, generating a cost matrix based on the term distances, and selecting a set of candidate alignments based on the cost matrix. The method further includes generating multiple alignment scores for the set of candidate alignments, and selecting, from the set of candidate alignments, an alignment between the first string and the second string based on the alignment scores. The method further includes outputting a match identifier based on the alignment.