Synonym Sync Shopify search synonyms were retired: what changed and how to add them back
If your Shopify search stopped matching "couch" to "sofa" in late September 2026, it is not a setting you broke. Shopify retired the Synonyms feature in its free Search and Discovery app. This guide explains what changed, which stores are affected, and two ways to get synonym matching back.
What changed and when
Around September 16, 2026, Shopify removed the Synonyms feature from the Search and Discovery app. There was no changelog entry. Merchants reported it in Shopify Community threads in late September 2026.
Synonyms let you tell search that a set of words mean the same thing, for example sofa, couch, settee.
A customer who searched for any one of them saw products described with any of the others.
The replacement is called "semantic understanding" (semantic search). It tries to work out the meaning of a search rather than matching exact words. It has three important limits:
- It only runs on the Grow, Advanced and Plus plans.
- It only runs for stores with fewer than 200,000 products.
- It never applies to predictive search, the dropdown that appears while a customer types.
You also cannot tell semantic understanding which words you want treated as the same. Brand terms, regional words and trade jargon are exactly the cases where a manual synonym list helped most.
Who is affected
In short: every store on the Basic plan, and the search dropdown on every store. The table shows what built-in synonym-style matching is left after the change.
| Plan | Search results page | Search dropdown (predictive search) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | None | None |
| Grow | Semantic understanding, if under 200,000 products | None |
| Advanced | Semantic understanding, if under 200,000 products | None |
| Plus | Semantic understanding, if under 200,000 products | None |
Stores on Grow, Advanced or Plus with 200,000 products or more are in the same position as Basic: no built-in synonym matching anywhere.
Why the search dropdown has no synonyms at all
Predictive search is the list of suggested products that appears under the search box as the customer types. For many shoppers it is the main way they search, because they click a suggestion and never reach the results page.
Semantic understanding does not run in predictive search on any plan. With the Synonyms feature gone, the dropdown only matches words that are actually on the product, such as its title and its tags. If your product is called "Linen sofa" and a customer types "couch", the dropdown shows nothing for it.
The useful part of that sentence is "its tags". Shopify search, in both the results page and the dropdown, already searches product tags. Putting the synonym words on the product as tags is the most direct way to get them matched again, and it works on every plan.
Option 1: add synonym tags yourself (free)
You can do this today without installing anything. For each group of synonyms, add the other words as tags to the products that use one of them.
- Write down your synonym groups, for example
sofa, couch, settee. - In your Shopify admin, go to Products and find the products that match one word in the group, for example search for "sofa".
-
Open each product and add the other words to its Tags field, for example
couchandsettee. Save the product. - To tag many products at once, select them in the product list and use the bulk action to add tags.
- Repeat for each synonym group, and for each word in the group that appears on different products.
- Wait for Shopify to reindex the products (see below), then test a search on your storefront.
Things to keep in mind:
- Tags can be visible. Some themes show product tags on the product page or as filters. Check your theme after adding tags. Many themes hide tags that start with an underscore.
- It does not stay in sync. Every new product, and every product you rename or recategorise, needs its tags checked by hand.
- Removing them later is manual too. Keep a note of which tags you added for search so you can remove them cleanly.
For a small catalog with a few synonym groups this is a perfectly good solution.
Option 2: automate it with Synonym Sync
Synonym Sync does the same thing as option 1, automatically. You enter your synonym groups once, or import your
old list with one group per line. The app finds every product that matches a word in a group and tags it with the
other words, using tags that start with _syn-.
- Works on every plan, in the search results page and the search dropdown.
- Works for headless storefronts that use the Storefront API.
- New and edited products are updated automatically.
- No theme code.
- A "Remove all synonym tags" button removes every tag the app added.
Tag-based matching was verified on the theme search page, the theme search dropdown, Storefront API search and Storefront API predictive search. There is a free plan for up to 5 synonym groups and a paid plan with unlimited groups. Synonym Sync is in testing and coming to the Shopify App Store.
Why query rewriting scripts have trade-offs
Another approach is to change the customer's search before it is sent. A script in the theme sees that the
customer typed "couch" and searches for couch OR sofa OR settee instead.
This can widen the matches, but Shopify documents that using search syntax such as OR turns off typo
tolerance, predictive search and semantic understanding for that search. So a customer who types "cuoch" may get
nothing, and on Grow, Advanced and Plus you give up semantic understanding for every rewritten search. The script
also lives in your theme, so headless storefronts need their own version.
Tagging products leaves the customer's search untouched. Shopify's typo tolerance and, where available, semantic understanding keep working as normal.
How long changes take to show
Tags are saved on the product straight away, whether you add them by hand or Synonym Sync adds them within seconds. Search does not see them until Shopify reindexes each product. In testing this took from a few minutes to about 80 minutes.
Allow up to about 90 minutes before deciding a synonym does not work, then search again.
FAQ
Did Shopify remove synonyms from Search and Discovery?
Yes. Around September 16, 2026 the Synonyms feature was retired from the free Search and Discovery app, with no changelog entry. Merchants reported it in Shopify Community threads in late September 2026.
Why are my Shopify search synonyms not working?
Synonym groups you created in Search and Discovery no longer apply. On Grow, Advanced and Plus plans, semantic understanding may match related words on the search results page for stores under 200,000 products. On the Basic plan, and in the search dropdown on every plan, there is no built-in synonym matching.
Does semantic understanding work in the predictive search dropdown?
No. Semantic understanding never applies to predictive search, so the dropdown only matches words that are actually on the product, such as the title and tags.
How do I add synonyms to Shopify search for free?
Add the synonym words as product tags. Shopify search already searches tags, so a sofa tagged "couch" appears when a customer searches for couch. You have to keep the tags up to date yourself as products change.
How long does it take for new tags to show up in search?
Tags are saved immediately, but Shopify has to reindex each product before search sees the change. In testing this took from a few minutes to about 80 minutes, so allow up to about 90 minutes.
Does adding search syntax like OR to queries help?
It can match more words, but Shopify documents that search syntax such as OR turns off typo tolerance, predictive search and semantic understanding for that search.
Questions about this guide or Synonym Sync: support@synonymsync.com.