Free browser tool
Newspaper clipping comparison
Paste two transcriptions to see which wording matches and which wording changes. Useful for reprints, corrected notices and checking your transcription against OCR.
Private working space. Your entries stay on this page. This tool makes no archive, AI or analytics requests and does not save your work. Refreshing or closing clears it. Copy buttons use your clipboard only when you click them.
Compare newspaper clipping transcriptions
Paste two transcriptions you have already typed or copied from OCR. This compares words, not newspaper photographs, and highlights places worth reading again.
Your text stays in this page's memory. There are no uploads, accounts, APIs, AI calls, databases or saved browser records. Clear removes the text and results from this page; it does not clear your device's clipboard or browser-managed form history.
Paste both transcriptions, then choose Compare.
Shared wording, including long passages, is not proof of copying. Short or common phrases are especially weak evidence. Compare issue dates, sources, context and the original images. Differences may be OCR or transcription errors, not historical differences.
This tool does not establish truth, identity, plagiarism or source independence. It provides no genealogical confidence or percentage match score.
Compare two newspaper clippings without uploading them
Two newspaper notices may look like separate evidence until you read them side by side. This free clipping comparison tool highlights shared and changed wording in two pasted transcriptions. You can use it to examine a possible reprint, compare a brief death notice with a longer obituary, or check OCR against a transcription you made from the page image.
Give each text a useful label, such as “May 6 issue, page 3” and “May 8 issue, page 5.” Paste only the item you want to compare. The tool compares the text you supply, not the scan itself, so a bad transcription can create an apparent difference that was never printed.
Inspect names, dates and relationships in context
Read the changed wording in its surrounding sentence. A different age, surname, place or relationship can matter more than a changed punctuation mark. If one notice adds a survivor's name, return to the image to check that addition. If one text omits a sentence, check for a cropped image or a continuation before deciding that the newspaper omitted it.
The comparison aligns word tokens and reports changed passages rather than an identity probability, percentage score or plagiarism verdict. Reordered sentences can appear as removed and added text. The visible control lets you ignore punctuation and capitalization, or compare them literally. Spacing is ignored for matching but preserved in the displayed text.
Repeated wording does not establish independence
A close match can suggest shared wording worth investigating. It cannot prove which report came first, whether one paper copied another, whether both used a supplied announcement, or whether the reported event is true. Check publication dates, attribution, edition and source details before drawing a conclusion.
Keep the two source citations separate even when the text matches. Our newspaper evidence guide explains why a second copy is useful for comparison but is not automatically an independent confirmation. Use the citation generator to record each version.
Questions about clipping comparisons
Can I upload photographs or get OCR here?
No. This first version compares pasted text only. It does not upload images, read files or call an OCR or AI service. Transcribe the relevant passage yourself or use text available in your archive.
What if the notices are identical?
The tool will show matching wording. That is a result about the two texts you pasted, not proof that the reports are accurate or independently sourced.
Why is there a length limit?
The tool is designed for short clippings rather than whole newspaper pages. It limits input and word counts to keep the comparison responsive on a phone. Compare a relevant excerpt when a report is very long.