A data dictionary uses a reverse error correction procedure to identify near matches, tolerating mismatches at Hamming's distance 2 utilizing pairwise combinations of indices of a central index decoding sphere and all adjacent decoding spheres (each index identified as a vector defining the center of the decoding sphere) to form sets of hash indices for storing a dictionary entry. Using a Golay code procedure, this arrangement resolves the cases of dictionary entries at distances three and two from the center of a particular central index decoding sphere. In the former case, five adjacent decoding spheres are identified with the dictionary entry stored in the fifteen pairwise combinations formed by the central index and these five adjacent spheres. In the latter case, the twenty-one adjacent decoding spheres are identified, and the data entry is stored in the twenty-one concatenated arrangements formed by the central index and the twenty-one adjacent decoding spheres.