16. A method according to claim 3 wherein the digital data processing means comprises a plurality of stored tables each having digitally coded representations therein, the step of utilizing the suffix class indication comprising the steps of: (a) utilizing representations of the suffix class indications to access and to derive from a first one of the tables a representation of a list of acceptable suffixes, the acceptable suffix list corresponding to a value represented by the suffix class indication; (b) utilizing representations of the at least one of the plural suffix lists to access and to derive from a second one of the tables a representation of the characters forming the at least one acceptable suffix.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of comparing the characters forming the determined query word stem portion for acceptable misspelling matches comprises the additional step of forming a match class indication representing one of a plurality of classes in which each of the acceptable misspelling matches may be included; and wherein the step of determining characters forming an ending portion comprises the additional step of utilizing the acceptable match class indication for each of individual candidate words to determine the position of an ending portion in each of individual candidate words.