Index: gc_core/js/char_player.js
==================================================================
--- gc_core/js/char_player.js
+++ gc_core/js/char_player.js
@@ -3,10 +3,30 @@
 
 ${map}
 
 
 var char_player = {
+
+    _dTransChars: new Map([
+        ['à', 'a'],  ['é', 'e'],  ['î', 'i'],  ['ô', 'o'],  ['û', 'u'],  ['ÿ', 'y'],
+        ['â', 'a'],  ['è', 'e'],  ['ï', 'i'],  ['ö', 'o'],  ['ù', 'u'],  ['ŷ', 'y'],
+        ['ä', 'a'],  ['ê', 'e'],  ['í', 'i'],  ['ó', 'o'],  ['ü', 'u'],  ['ý', 'y'],
+        ['á', 'a'],  ['ë', 'e'],  ['ì', 'i'],  ['ò', 'o'],  ['ú', 'u'],  ['ỳ', 'y'],
+        ['ā', 'a'],  ['ē', 'e'],  ['ī', 'i'],  ['ō', 'o'],  ['ū', 'u'],  ['ȳ', 'y'],
+        ['ñ', 'n'],
+        ['œ', 'oe'], ['æ', 'ae'], 
+    ]),
+
+    cleanWord: function (sWord) {
+        // word simplication before calculating distance between words
+        sWord = sWord.toLowerCase();
+        let sRes = "";
+        for (let c of sWord) {
+            sRes += this._dTransChars.gl_get(c, c);
+        }
+        return sWord;
+    },
 
     distanceDamerauLevenshtein: function (s1, s2) {
         // distance of Damerau-Levenshtein between <s1> and <s2>
         // https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_de_Damerau-Levenshtein
         try {
@@ -54,11 +74,11 @@
         'á', 'ë', 'ì', 'ò', 'ú', 'ỳ',
         'ā', 'ē', 'ī', 'ō', 'ū', 'ȳ',
         'h', 'œ', 'æ'
     ]),
 
-    clearWord: function (sWord) {
+    shrinkWord: function (sWord) {
         // remove vovels and h
         let sRes = "";
         for (let cChar of sWord.slice(1)) {
             if (!this.aVovels.has(cChar)) {
                 sRes += cChar;

Index: gc_core/js/ibdawg.js
==================================================================
--- gc_core/js/ibdawg.js
+++ gc_core/js/ibdawg.js
@@ -201,20 +201,21 @@
         }
         else if (sWord.gl_isLowerCase()) {
             aSugg.gl_update(this._suggest(sWord.gl_toCapitalize(), nMaxDel, nMaxHardRepl));
         }
         if (aSugg.size == 0) {
-            aSugg.gl_update(this._suggestWithCrushedUselessChars(char_player.clearWord(sWord)));
+            aSugg.gl_update(this._suggestWithCrushedUselessChars(char_player.shrinkWord(sWord)));
         }
         // Set to Array
         aSugg = Array.from(aSugg);
         aSugg = aSugg.filter((sSugg) => { return !sSugg.endsWith("è") && !sSugg.endsWith("È"); }); // fr language 
         if (sWord.gl_isTitle()) {
             aSugg = aSugg.map((sSugg) => { return sSugg.gl_toCapitalize(); });
         }
         let dDistTemp = new Map();
-        aSugg.forEach((sSugg) => { dDistTemp.set(sSugg, char_player.distanceDamerauLevenshtein(sWord, sSugg)); });
+        let sCleanWord = char_player.cleanWord(sWord)
+        aSugg.forEach((sSugg) => { dDistTemp.set(sSugg, char_player.distanceDamerauLevenshtein(sCleanWord, char_player.cleanWord(sSugg))); });
         aSugg = aSugg.sort((sA, sB) => { return dDistTemp.get(sA) - dDistTemp.get(sB); }).slice(0, nMaxSugg);
         dDistTemp.clear();
         if (sSfx || sPfx) {
             // we add what we removed
             return aSugg.map( (sSugg) => { return sPfx + sSugg + sSfx } );

Index: gc_core/py/char_player.py
==================================================================
--- gc_core/py/char_player.py
+++ gc_core/py/char_player.py
@@ -1,10 +1,25 @@
 # list of similar chars
 # useful for suggestion mechanism
 
 import re
 
+
+_xTransChars = str.maketrans({
+    'à': 'a',  'é': 'e',  'î': 'i',  'ô': 'o',  'û': 'u',  'ÿ': 'y',
+    'â': 'a',  'è': 'e',  'ï': 'i',  'ö': 'o',  'ù': 'u',  'ŷ': 'y',
+    'ä': 'a',  'ê': 'e',  'í': 'i',  'ó': 'o',  'ü': 'u',  'ý': 'y',
+    'á': 'a',  'ë': 'e',  'ì': 'i',  'ò': 'o',  'ú': 'u',  'ỳ': 'y',
+    'ā': 'a',  'ē': 'e',  'ī': 'i',  'ō': 'o',  'ū': 'u',  'ȳ': 'y',
+    'ñ': 'n',
+    'œ': 'oe',  'æ': 'ae', 
+})
+
+def cleanWord (sWord):
+    "word simplication before calculating distance between words"
+    return sWord.lower().translate(_xTransChars)
+
 
 def distanceDamerauLevenshtein (s1, s2):
     "distance of Damerau-Levenshtein between <s1> and <s2>"
     # https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_de_Damerau-Levenshtein
     d = {}
@@ -43,11 +58,11 @@
 
 
 aVovels = frozenset(_dVovels.keys())
 
 
-def clearWord (sWord):
+def shrinkWord (sWord):
     "remove vovels and h"
     return sWord[0:1].replace("h", "") + sWord[1:].translate(_xTransVovels)
 
 
 # Similar chars

Index: gc_core/py/ibdawg.py
==================================================================
--- gc_core/py/ibdawg.py
+++ gc_core/py/ibdawg.py
@@ -198,13 +198,14 @@
             aSugg = set(map(lambda sSugg: sSugg.title(), aSugg))
         elif sWord.islower():
             aSugg.update(self._suggest(sWord.title(), nMaxDel=nMaxDel, nMaxHardRepl=nMaxHardRepl))
         if not aSugg:
             #print("crush useless chars")
-            aSugg.update(self._suggestWithCrushedUselessChars(cp.clearWord(sWord)))
+            aSugg.update(self._suggestWithCrushedUselessChars(cp.shrinkWord(sWord)))
         aSugg = cp.filterSugg(aSugg)
-        aSugg = sorted(aSugg, key=lambda sSugg: cp.distanceDamerauLevenshtein(sWord, sSugg))[:nMaxSugg]
+        sCleanWord = cp.cleanWord(sWord)
+        aSugg = sorted(aSugg, key=lambda sSugg: cp.distanceDamerauLevenshtein(sCleanWord, cp.cleanWord(sSugg)))[:nMaxSugg]
         if sSfx or sPfx:
             # we add what we removed
             return list(map(lambda sSug: sPfx + sSug + sSfx, aSugg))
         return aSugg