As you mentioned, phonetic algorithm like Double Metaphone (stored e.g. in an SQL database) gives you probably better results (if you order the results by its score).
I was also wondering about using phonetic matching as a substitute for spell checking.
I guess one downside to phonetic matching vs spell-checking would be that you're not really telling the user that results are shown for a different term from the one they entered?
I guess one downside to phonetic matching vs spell-checking would be that you're not really telling the user that results are shown for a different term from the one they entered?