About

Shakespeare Phrase Finder is a tool for locating exact phrases across Shakespeare’s complete plays, sonnets, and major poems. It’s designed for moments when accuracy matters: the words you search for must appear together, in order, in the text. When an exact match isn’t found, the site offers a small set of partial matches based on shorter sub-phrases. These are intended as suggestions rather than substitutes, to help refine a search and locate the desired passage.

Search results link directly to their source, making it easy to move from a specific line to its surrounding context. Plays are organized by act and scene, and poems and sonnets are presented line by line, so results can be read in place or explored further.

In addition to search, the full texts are available for browsing. This makes it possible to move between precise lookup and broader reading, whether you’re tracking down a remembered phrase or exploring how a passage sits within a larger work.

Start with the search on the homepage, or browse the texts.

(All texts are drawn from public-domain editions of Shakespeare’s works.)