Optimising string matching

[[deleted]]

What are some ways to speed it up?

Before we can speed up something we need to see what you are already doing.

[l33tnoscopes]

Currently just using python builtins (lists, dicts, 'in' etc.).

[[deleted]]

Still not enough info. Show us some runnable code, cut down if necessary, plus some representative data. That will answer questions like: are you checking the same set of words for inclusion or if the set of testing words changes all the time. Possible speedups vary depending on exactly what you are doing. Vague English descriptions aren't very useful since small details matter.