Table of Contents
What Is the Main Difference Between Semantic Search and Lexical Search?
Understand the core differences between semantic search, which uses vector embeddings to grasp meaning, and lexical search, which relies on exact keyword matching.
Question
What is the main difference between semantic search and lexical search?
A. Semantic search is faster than lexical search
B. Lexical search requires more computing power than semantic search
C. Semantic search only works with short documents
D. Semantic search uses embeddings to understand meaning, while lexical search looks for exact term matches
Answer
D. Semantic search uses embeddings to understand meaning, while lexical search looks for exact term matches
Explanation
The main difference is in how they interpret queries: lexical (keyword) search finds documents by matching the exact words or close variations of the words you type, relying on literal term occurrences. In contrast, semantic search converts text into vector embeddings using machine learning models to capture the underlying concepts, allowing it to understand the context and intent behind a query and return relevant results even if the exact words don’t match (e.g., returning “budget phones” for a query about “affordable smartphones”).