1. A method for fast translation memory search, comprising: in response to an input query string, identifying a plurality of hypothesis strings stored in a translation memory as candidates to match the query string; eliminating one or more candidates, using a processor, where string lengths between the candidates and the query string are at least a cutoff value representing a string edit distance; eliminating one or more candidates where differences in word frequency Distributions between the candidates and the query string are at least the cutoff value; eliminating one or more candidates by employing a dynamic programming matrix where string edit distances between the candidates and the query string are at least the cutoff value; and outputting a number of remaining candidates as matches to the query string.