Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/validation/tests/SimilarNamedWays.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/validation/tests/SimilarNamedWays.java	(revision 14370)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/validation/tests/SimilarNamedWays.java	(revision 14371)
@@ -111,64 +111,4 @@
 
     /**
-     * Compute Levenshtein distance
-     *
-     * @param s First word
-     * @param t Second word
-     * @return The distance between words
-     */
-    public static int getLevenshteinDistance(String s, String t) {
-        int[][] d; // matrix
-        int n; // length of s
-        int m; // length of t
-        int i; // iterates through s
-        int j; // iterates through t
-        char si; // ith character of s
-        char tj; // jth character of t
-        int cost; // cost
-
-        // Step 1
-        n = s.length();
-        m = t.length();
-        if (n == 0)
-            return m;
-        if (m == 0)
-            return n;
-        d = new int[n+1][m+1];
-
-        // Step 2
-        for (i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
-            d[i][0] = i;
-        }
-        for (j = 0; j <= m; j++) {
-            d[0][j] = j;
-        }
-
-        // Step 3
-        for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
-
-            si = s.charAt(i - 1);
-
-            // Step 4
-            for (j = 1; j <= m; j++) {
-
-                tj = t.charAt(j - 1);
-
-                // Step 5
-                if (si == tj) {
-                    cost = 0;
-                } else {
-                    cost = 1;
-                }
-
-                // Step 6
-                d[i][j] = Math.min(Math.min(d[i - 1][j] + 1, d[i][j - 1] + 1), d[i - 1][j - 1] + cost);
-            }
-        }
-
-        // Step 7
-        return d[n][m];
-    }
-
-    /**
      * Add a regular expression rule.
      * @param regExpr the regular expression to search for
@@ -200,16 +140,9 @@
      */
     public boolean similaryName(String name, String name2) {
-        // check plain strings
-        int distance = getLevenshteinDistance(name, name2);
-        boolean similar = distance > 0 && distance <= 2;
-
-        // check if only the case differs, so we don't consider large distance as different strings
-        if (distance > 2 && name.length() == name2.length()) {
-            similar = Utils.deAccent(name).equalsIgnoreCase(Utils.deAccent(name2));
-        }
+        boolean similar = Utils.isSimilar(name, name2);
 
         // try all rules
         for (NormalizeRule rule : rules) {
-            int levenshteinDistance = getLevenshteinDistance(rule.normalize(name), rule.normalize(name2));
+            int levenshteinDistance = Utils.getLevenshteinDistance(rule.normalize(name), rule.normalize(name2));
             if (levenshteinDistance == 0)
                 // one rule results in identical names: identical
Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/mappaint/mapcss/ExpressionFactory.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/mappaint/mapcss/ExpressionFactory.java	(revision 14370)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/mappaint/mapcss/ExpressionFactory.java	(revision 14371)
@@ -877,4 +877,16 @@
 
         /**
+         * Check if two strings are similar, but not identical, i.e., have a Levenshtein distance of 1 or 2.
+         * @param string1 first string to compare
+         * @param string2 second string to compare
+         * @return true if the normalized strings are different but only a "little bit"
+         * @see Utils#isSimilar
+         * @since 14371
+         */
+        public static boolean is_similar(String string1, String string2) {
+            return Utils.isSimilar(string1, string2);
+        }
+
+        /**
          * Percent-decode a string. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding)
          * This is especially useful for wikipedia titles
Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/Utils.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/Utils.java	(revision 14370)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/Utils.java	(revision 14371)
@@ -1220,4 +1220,85 @@
 
     /**
+     * Compute <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenshtein_distance">Levenshtein distance</a>
+     *
+     * @param s First word
+     * @param t Second word
+     * @return The distance between words
+     * @since 14371
+     */
+    public static int getLevenshteinDistance(String s, String t) {
+        int[][] d; // matrix
+        int n; // length of s
+        int m; // length of t
+        int i; // iterates through s
+        int j; // iterates through t
+        char si; // ith character of s
+        char tj; // jth character of t
+        int cost; // cost
+
+        // Step 1
+        n = s.length();
+        m = t.length();
+        if (n == 0)
+            return m;
+        if (m == 0)
+            return n;
+        d = new int[n+1][m+1];
+
+        // Step 2
+        for (i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
+            d[i][0] = i;
+        }
+        for (j = 0; j <= m; j++) {
+            d[0][j] = j;
+        }
+
+        // Step 3
+        for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
+
+            si = s.charAt(i - 1);
+
+            // Step 4
+            for (j = 1; j <= m; j++) {
+
+                tj = t.charAt(j - 1);
+
+                // Step 5
+                if (si == tj) {
+                    cost = 0;
+                } else {
+                    cost = 1;
+                }
+
+                // Step 6
+                d[i][j] = Math.min(Math.min(d[i - 1][j] + 1, d[i][j - 1] + 1), d[i - 1][j - 1] + cost);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Step 7
+        return d[n][m];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check if two strings are similar, but not identical, i.e., have a Levenshtein distance of 1 or 2.
+     * @param string1 first string to compare
+     * @param string2 second string to compare
+     * @return true if the normalized strings are different but only a "little bit"
+     * @see #getLevenshteinDistance
+     * @since 14371
+     */
+    public static boolean isSimilar(String string1, String string2) {
+        // check plain strings
+        int distance = getLevenshteinDistance(string1, string2);
+
+        // check if only the case differs, so we don't consider large distance as different strings
+        if (distance > 2 && string1.length() == string2.length()) {
+            return deAccent(string1).equalsIgnoreCase(deAccent(string2));
+        } else {
+            return distance > 0 && distance <= 2;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
      * A ForkJoinWorkerThread that will always inherit caller permissions,
      * unlike JDK's InnocuousForkJoinWorkerThread, used if a security manager exists.
Index: trunk/test/unit/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/UtilsTest.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/test/unit/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/UtilsTest.java	(revision 14370)
+++ trunk/test/unit/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/UtilsTest.java	(revision 14371)
@@ -295,3 +295,25 @@
         assertEquals("Empty on null stream", 0, Utils.readBytesFromStream(null).length);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Test of {@link Utils#getLevenshteinDistance} method.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testLevenshteinDistance() {
+        assertEquals(0, Utils.getLevenshteinDistance("foo", "foo"));
+        assertEquals(3, Utils.getLevenshteinDistance("foo", "bar"));
+        assertEquals(1, Utils.getLevenshteinDistance("bar", "baz"));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test of {@link Utils#isSimilar} method.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testIsSimilar() {
+        assertFalse(Utils.isSimilar("foo", "foo"));
+        assertFalse(Utils.isSimilar("foo", "bar"));
+        assertTrue(Utils.isSimilar("bar", "baz"));
+        assertTrue(Utils.isSimilar("bar", "baz"));
+        assertTrue(Utils.isSimilar("Rua São João", "Rua SAO Joao"));
+    }
 }