diff --git a/common/util/parse.ts b/common/util/parse.ts
index 94b5ab7f..30dcb952 100644
--- a/common/util/parse.ts
+++ b/common/util/parse.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,16 @@ export function parseWordsAsTags(text: string) {
   return parseTags(taggedText)
 }
 
+// TODO: fuzzy matching
+export const wordIn = (word: string, corpus: string) =>
+  corpus.toLocaleLowerCase().includes(word.toLocaleLowerCase())
+
+const checkAgainstQuery = (query: string, corpus: string) =>
+  query.split(' ').every((word) => wordIn(word, corpus))
+
+export const searchInAny = (query: string, ...fields: string[]) =>
+  fields.some((field) => checkAgainstQuery(query, field))
+
 // can't just do [StarterKit, Image...] because it doesn't work with cjs imports
 export const exhibitExts = [
   Blockquote,
diff --git a/web/components/filter-select-users.tsx b/web/components/filter-select-users.tsx
index 7ce73cf8..a19ab6af 100644
--- a/web/components/filter-select-users.tsx
+++ b/web/components/filter-select-users.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { Menu, Transition } from '@headlessui/react'
 import { Avatar } from 'web/components/avatar'
 import { Row } from 'web/components/layout/row'
 import { UserLink } from 'web/components/user-page'
+import { searchInAny } from 'common/util/parse'
 
 export function FilterSelectUsers(props: {
   setSelectedUsers: (users: User[]) => void
@@ -35,8 +36,7 @@ export function FilterSelectUsers(props: {
           return (
             !selectedUsers.map((user) => user.name).includes(user.name) &&
             !ignoreUserIds.includes(user.id) &&
-            (user.name.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase()) ||
-              user.username.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase()))
+            searchInAny(query, user.name, user.username)
           )
         })
       )
diff --git a/web/components/groups/group-selector.tsx b/web/components/groups/group-selector.tsx
index ea1597f2..2417403a 100644
--- a/web/components/groups/group-selector.tsx
+++ b/web/components/groups/group-selector.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { CreateGroupButton } from 'web/components/groups/create-group-button'
 import { useState } from 'react'
 import { useMemberGroups } from 'web/hooks/use-group'
 import { User } from 'common/user'
+import { searchInAny } from 'common/util/parse'
 
 export function GroupSelector(props: {
   selectedGroup?: Group
@@ -22,14 +23,10 @@ export function GroupSelector(props: {
   const [isCreatingNewGroup, setIsCreatingNewGroup] = useState(false)
 
   const [query, setQuery] = useState('')
-  const memberGroups = useMemberGroups(creator?.id)
-  const filteredGroups = memberGroups
-    ? query === ''
-      ? memberGroups
-      : memberGroups.filter((group) => {
-          return group.name.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase())
-        })
-    : []
+  const memberGroups = useMemberGroups(creator?.id) ?? []
+  const filteredGroups = memberGroups.filter((group) =>
+    searchInAny(query, group.name)
+  )
 
   if (!showSelector || !creator) {
     return (
diff --git a/web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params.tsx b/web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params.tsx
index a2590249..a2248c2e 100644
--- a/web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params.tsx
+++ b/web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params.tsx
@@ -16,11 +16,6 @@ export type Sort =
   | 'resolve-date'
   | 'last-updated'
 
-export function checkAgainstQuery(query: string, corpus: string) {
-  const queryWords = query.toLowerCase().split(' ')
-  return queryWords.every((word) => corpus.toLowerCase().includes(word))
-}
-
 export function getSavedSort() {
   // TODO: this obviously doesn't work with SSR, common sense would suggest
   // that we should save things like this in cookies so the server has them
diff --git a/web/pages/charity/index.tsx b/web/pages/charity/index.tsx
index 46201c3d..92e6b69f 100644
--- a/web/pages/charity/index.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/charity/index.tsx
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import { manaToUSD } from 'common/util/format'
 import { quadraticMatches } from 'common/quadratic-funding'
 import { Txn } from 'common/txn'
 import { useTracking } from 'web/hooks/use-tracking'
+import { searchInAny } from 'common/util/parse'
 
 export async function getStaticProps() {
   const txns = await getAllCharityTxns()
@@ -88,10 +89,12 @@ export default function Charity(props: {
     () =>
       charities.filter(
         (charity) =>
-          charity.name.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase()) ||
-          charity.preview.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase()) ||
-          charity.description.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase()) ||
-          (charity.tags as string[])?.includes(query.toLowerCase())
+          searchInAny(
+            query,
+            charity.name,
+            charity.preview,
+            charity.description
+          ) || (charity.tags as string[])?.includes(query.toLowerCase())
       ),
     [charities, query]
   )
diff --git a/web/pages/contract-search-firestore.tsx b/web/pages/contract-search-firestore.tsx
index 3ac11993..0ef8cdfe 100644
--- a/web/pages/contract-search-firestore.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/contract-search-firestore.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { Answer } from 'common/answer'
+import { searchInAny } from 'common/util/parse'
 import { sortBy } from 'lodash'
 import { useState } from 'react'
 import { ContractsGrid } from 'web/components/contract/contracts-list'
@@ -28,22 +29,14 @@ export default function ContractSearchFirestore(props: {
   const [sort, setSort] = useState(initialSort || 'newest')
   const [query, setQuery] = useState(initialQuery)
 
-  const queryWords = query.toLowerCase().split(' ')
-  function check(corpus: string) {
-    return queryWords.every((word) => corpus.toLowerCase().includes(word))
-  }
-
-  let matches = (contracts ?? []).filter(
-    (c) =>
-      check(c.question) ||
-      check(c.creatorName) ||
-      check(c.creatorUsername) ||
-      check(c.lowercaseTags.map((tag) => `#${tag}`).join(' ')) ||
-      check(
-        ((c as any).answers ?? [])
-          .map((answer: Answer) => answer.text)
-          .join(' ')
-      )
+  let matches = (contracts ?? []).filter((c) =>
+    searchInAny(
+      query,
+      c.question,
+      c.creatorName,
+      c.lowercaseTags.map((tag) => `#${tag}`).join(' '),
+      ((c as any).answers ?? []).map((answer: Answer) => answer.text).join(' ')
+    )
   )
 
   if (sort === 'newest') {
diff --git a/web/pages/group/[...slugs]/index.tsx b/web/pages/group/[...slugs]/index.tsx
index 9620894f..5fd564ea 100644
--- a/web/pages/group/[...slugs]/index.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/group/[...slugs]/index.tsx
@@ -40,10 +40,7 @@ import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
 import { GroupChat } from 'web/components/groups/group-chat'
 import { LoadingIndicator } from 'web/components/loading-indicator'
 import { Modal } from 'web/components/layout/modal'
-import {
-  checkAgainstQuery,
-  getSavedSort,
-} from 'web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params'
+import { getSavedSort } from 'web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params'
 import { ChoicesToggleGroup } from 'web/components/choices-toggle-group'
 import { toast } from 'react-hot-toast'
 import { useCommentsOnGroup } from 'web/hooks/use-comments'
@@ -56,6 +53,7 @@ import { SearchIcon } from '@heroicons/react/outline'
 import { useTipTxns } from 'web/hooks/use-tip-txns'
 import { JoinOrLeaveGroupButton } from 'web/components/groups/groups-button'
 import { OnlineUserList } from 'web/components/online-user-list'
+import { searchInAny } from 'common/util/parse'
 
 export const getStaticProps = fromPropz(getStaticPropz)
 export async function getStaticPropz(props: { params: { slugs: string[] } }) {
@@ -446,9 +444,8 @@ function GroupMemberSearch(props: { members: User[]; group: Group }) {
   }
 
   // TODO use find-active-contracts to sort by?
-  const matches = sortBy(members, [(member) => member.name]).filter(
-    (m) =>
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, m.name) || checkAgainstQuery(query, m.username)
+  const matches = sortBy(members, [(member) => member.name]).filter((m) =>
+    searchInAny(query, m.name, m.username)
   )
   const matchLimit = 25
 
diff --git a/web/pages/groups.tsx b/web/pages/groups.tsx
index 87ac1501..9e21c346 100644
--- a/web/pages/groups.tsx
+++ b/web/pages/groups.tsx
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ import { useUser } from 'web/hooks/use-user'
 import { groupPath, listAllGroups } from 'web/lib/firebase/groups'
 import { getUser, User } from 'web/lib/firebase/users'
 import { Tabs } from 'web/components/layout/tabs'
-import { checkAgainstQuery } from 'web/hooks/use-sort-and-query-params'
 import { SiteLink } from 'web/components/site-link'
 import clsx from 'clsx'
 import { Avatar } from 'web/components/avatar'
 import { JoinOrLeaveGroupButton } from 'web/components/groups/groups-button'
 import { UserLink } from 'web/components/user-page'
+import { searchInAny } from 'common/util/parse'
 
 export async function getStaticProps() {
   const groups = await listAllGroups().catch((_) => [])
@@ -71,11 +71,13 @@ export default function Groups(props: {
   const matches = sortBy(groups, [
     (group) => -1 * group.contractIds.length,
     (group) => -1 * group.memberIds.length,
-  ]).filter(
-    (g) =>
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, g.name) ||
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, g.about || '') ||
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, creatorsDict[g.creatorId].username)
+  ]).filter((g) =>
+    searchInAny(
+      query,
+      g.name,
+      g.about || '',
+      creatorsDict[g.creatorId].username
+    )
   )
 
   const matchesOrderedByRecentActivity = sortBy(groups, [
@@ -84,11 +86,13 @@ export default function Groups(props: {
       (group.mostRecentChatActivityTime ??
         group.mostRecentContractAddedTime ??
         group.mostRecentActivityTime),
-  ]).filter(
-    (g) =>
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, g.name) ||
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, g.about || '') ||
-      checkAgainstQuery(query, creatorsDict[g.creatorId].username)
+  ]).filter((g) =>
+    searchInAny(
+      query,
+      g.name,
+      g.about || '',
+      creatorsDict[g.creatorId].username
+    )
   )
 
   // Not strictly necessary, but makes the "hold delete" experience less laggy