Build a Python Chatbot That Understands Typos and Similar Questions!

🧠 What You’ll Learn

In this post, you’ll build a simple yet smart Python chatbot that can understand variations and typos in user input using just the difflib module—no AI libraries required!

This chatbot isn’t just based on if-else logic; it matches close sentences to known responses. Even if the user types “helo” instead of “hello,” it will still work!

The Code

import difflib

known_inputs = {
    "hello": 'Hi, How can I help you?',
    "hi": 'Hi, How can I help you?',
    "What's your name": "I'm a Python ChatBot",
    "bye": "Bye. Have a nice day"
}

while True:
    user_input = input('You : ').lower()
    key = difflib.get_close_matches(user_input, known_inputs.keys(), n=1, cutoff=0.5)

    if key:
        key = key[0]
        if key == 'bye':
            break
        print("Bot :", known_inputs[key])
    else:
        print("Bot : Sorry. I didn't understand that. I'm still learning.")

🔍 How It Works

• difflib.get_close_matches(): This function helps match the user input to the closest key in our chatbot dictionary. Even if a user types slightly incorrect text (like a typo), it finds the best possible match.
• cutoff=0.5: This means the input must be at least 50% similar to a known input to be considered.
• Graceful exit: If the user says “bye”, the bot ends the conversation.

📽️ Watch It in Action!

👉 Check out the full video tutorial here:

🔔 Like what you see?

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