diff --git a/R/fuzzy_match.R b/R/fuzzy_match.R
index 65d4f4cf..e34a8df7 100644
--- a/R/fuzzy_match.R
+++ b/R/fuzzy_match.R
@@ -49,6 +49,14 @@ fuzzy_match <- function(txt, accepted_list, max_distance_abs, max_distance_rel,
     txt_word3_start <- stringr::str_extract(word(txt,3), "[:alpha:]|[:digit:]")
   }
   
+  ## subset accepted list to taxa that begin with the same first letter to reduce the number of fuzzy matches that are made in the next step.
+    accepted_list <- accepted_list[(stringr::str_extract(accepted_list, "[:alpha:]") %>% stringr::str_to_lower() == txt_word1_start %>% stringr::str_to_lower())]
+  
+  ## to further speed up matches, further reduce list by subsetting accepted list based on the first letter of the second word.
+  if(words_in_text > 1) {
+    accepted_list <- accepted_list[(stringr::str_extract(stringr::word(accepted_list,2), "[:alpha:]") %>% stringr::str_to_lower() == txt_word2_start %>% stringr::str_to_lower())]
+  }
+  
   ## identify the number of characters that must change for the text string to match each of the possible accepted names
   distance_c <- utils::adist(txt, accepted_list, fixed=TRUE)[1,]