diff --git a/app/build.gradle b/app/build.gradle
index 51d6f56b0..e2d6d2b43 100644
--- a/app/build.gradle
+++ b/app/build.gradle
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ dependencies {
     compile ('com.mapbox.mapboxsdk:mapbox-android-sdk:5.1.0@aar'){
         transitive=true
     }
+    compile 'info.debatty:java-string-similarity:0.24'
 
     compile 'io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxandroid:2.0.1'
     // Because RxAndroid releases are few and far between, it is recommended you also
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/category/CategorizationFragment.java b/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/category/CategorizationFragment.java
index b281a6c1b..0a96e3ca2 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/category/CategorizationFragment.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/category/CategorizationFragment.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import com.pedrogomez.renderers.RVRendererAdapter;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Calendar;
+import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ import fr.free.nrw.commons.CommonsApplication;
 import fr.free.nrw.commons.R;
 import fr.free.nrw.commons.data.Category;
 import fr.free.nrw.commons.upload.MwVolleyApi;
+import fr.free.nrw.commons.utils.StringSortingUtils;
 import io.reactivex.Observable;
 import io.reactivex.android.schedulers.AndroidSchedulers;
 import io.reactivex.schedulers.Schedulers;
@@ -199,6 +201,7 @@ public class CategorizationFragment extends Fragment {
                 )
                 .filter(categoryItem -> !containsYear(categoryItem.getName()))
                 .distinct()
+                .sorted(sortByMatches(filter))
                 .observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
                 .subscribe(
                         s -> categoriesAdapter.add(s),
@@ -222,6 +225,11 @@ public class CategorizationFragment extends Fragment {
                 );
     }
 
+    private Comparator<CategoryItem> sortByMatches(final String filter) {
+        Comparator<String> stringSimilarityComparator = StringSortingUtils.sortBySimilarity(filter);
+        return (firstItem, secondItem) -> stringSimilarityComparator.compare(firstItem.getName(), secondItem.getName());
+    }
+
     private List<String> getStringList(List<CategoryItem> input) {
         List<String> output = new ArrayList<>();
         for (CategoryItem item : input) {
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/utils/StringSortingUtils.java b/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/utils/StringSortingUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..95bd711f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/main/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/utils/StringSortingUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package fr.free.nrw.commons.utils;
+
+import info.debatty.java.stringsimilarity.Levenshtein;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+
+public class StringSortingUtils {
+
+    private StringSortingUtils() {
+        //no-op
+    }
+
+    public static Comparator<String> sortBySimilarity(final String filter) {
+        return (firstItem, secondItem) -> {
+            double firstItemSimilarity = StringSortingUtils.calculateSimilarity(firstItem, filter);
+            double secondItemSimilarity = StringSortingUtils.calculateSimilarity(secondItem, filter);
+            return (int) Math.signum(secondItemSimilarity - firstItemSimilarity);
+        };
+    }
+
+    private static double calculateSimilarity(String firstString, String secondString) {
+        String longer = firstString.toLowerCase();
+        String shorter = secondString.toLowerCase();
+
+        if (firstString.length() < secondString.length()) {
+            longer = secondString;
+            shorter = firstString;
+        }
+        int longerLength = longer.length();
+        if (longerLength == 0) {
+            return 1.0;
+        }
+
+        double distanceBetweenStrings = new Levenshtein().distance(longer, shorter);
+        return (longerLength - distanceBetweenStrings) / (double) longerLength;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/utils/StringSortingUtilsTest.java b/app/src/test/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/utils/StringSortingUtilsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..661ddfc8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/test/java/fr/free/nrw/commons/utils/StringSortingUtilsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+package fr.free.nrw.commons.utils;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class StringSortingUtilsTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSortingNumbersBySimilarity() throws Exception {
+        List<String> actualList = Arrays.asList("1234567", "4567", "12345", "123", "1234");
+        List<String> expectedList = Arrays.asList("1234", "12345", "123", "1234567", "4567");
+
+        Collections.sort(actualList, StringSortingUtils.sortBySimilarity("tes"));
+        Assert.assertEquals(expectedList, actualList);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSortingTextBySimilarity() throws Exception {
+        List<String> actualList = Arrays.asList("The quick brown fox",
+                "quick brown fox",
+                "The",
+                "The quick ",
+                "The fox",
+                "brown fox",
+                "fox");
+        List<String> expectedList = Arrays.asList("The",
+                "The fox",
+                "The quick ",
+                "The quick brown fox",
+                "quick brown fox",
+                "brown fox",
+                "fox");
+
+        Collections.sort(actualList, StringSortingUtils.sortBySimilarity("The"));
+        Assert.assertEquals(expectedList, actualList);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file