Patent ID: 8285738

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a pair of terms that includes a term and a candidate synonym of the term; determining that the terms of the pair have been identified as being potentially non-synonymous; responsive to determining that the terms of the pair have been identified as being potentially non-synonymous, applying a penalty to the pair of terms, wherein application of the penalty comprises: determining a first quantity, corresponding to a number of times that users of a search engine have submitted queries that include the term, determining a second quantity, corresponding to a number of times that the users have switched from a query that includes the term, to an alternative query that includes the candidate synonym and that does not include the term, and adjusting, based on a relationship between the first quantity and the second quantity, a value that is used to determine whether the terms of the pair are synonyms; and determining, by one or more computers, whether the terms of the pair are synonyms using the adjusted value.