diff --git a/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponent.js b/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponent.js
index 378eeacab..012b7e2aa 100644
--- a/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponent.js
+++ b/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponent.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 
 import PopupMenuHeader from './PopupMenuHeader';
 import PopupMenuList from './PopupMenuList';
+import { searchEntries } from './PopupMenuSearchUtil';
 import classNames from 'clsx';
 import { isDefined, isFunction } from 'min-dash';
 
@@ -70,34 +71,11 @@ export default function PopupMenuComponent(props) {
   const [ value, setValue ] = useState('');
 
   const filterEntries = useCallback((originalEntries, value) => {
-
     if (!searchable) {
       return originalEntries;
     }
 
-    const filter = entry => {
-      if (!value) {
-        return (entry.rank || 0) >= 0;
-      }
-
-      if (entry.searchable === false) {
-        return false;
-      }
-
-      const searchableFields = [
-        entry.description || '',
-        entry.label || '',
-        entry.search || ''
-      ].map(string => string.toLowerCase());
-
-      // every word of `value` should be included in one of the searchable fields
-      return value
-        .toLowerCase()
-        .split(/\s/g)
-        .every(word => searchableFields.some(field => field.includes(word)));
-    };
-
-    return originalEntries.filter(filter);
+    return searchEntries(originalEntries, value);
   }, [ searchable ]);
 
   const [ entries, setEntries ] = useState(filterEntries(originalEntries, value));
diff --git a/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtil.js b/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtil.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d949e909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtil.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// eslint-disable-next-line import/no-unresolved
+import Fuse from 'fuse.js/min-basic';
+
+const options = {
+  threshold: 0.25,
+  keys: [
+    'description',
+    'label',
+    'search'
+  ]
+};
+
+export function searchEntries(entries, value) {
+  if (!value) {
+    return entries.filter(entry => (entry.rank || 0) >= 0);
+  }
+
+  const fuse = new Fuse(entries.filter(entry => entry.searchable !== false), options);
+
+  const result = fuse.search(value);
+
+  return result.map(({ item }) => item);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 682252b6e..d54efd1a0 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
         "@bpmn-io/diagram-js-ui": "^0.2.3",
         "clsx": "^2.1.0",
         "didi": "^10.2.2",
+        "fuse.js": "^7.0.0",
         "inherits-browser": "^0.1.0",
         "min-dash": "^4.1.0",
         "min-dom": "^4.1.0",
@@ -3783,6 +3784,14 @@
         "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/ljharb"
       }
     },
+    "node_modules/fuse.js": {
+      "version": "7.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/fuse.js/-/fuse.js-7.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-14F4hBIxqKvD4Zz/XjDc3y94mNZN6pRv3U13Udo0lNLCWRBUsrMv2xwcF/y/Z5sV6+FQW+/ow68cHpm4sunt8Q==",
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">=10"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/gensync": {
       "version": "1.0.0-beta.2",
       "dev": true,
@@ -11272,6 +11281,11 @@
       "version": "1.2.3",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "fuse.js": {
+      "version": "7.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/fuse.js/-/fuse.js-7.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-14F4hBIxqKvD4Zz/XjDc3y94mNZN6pRv3U13Udo0lNLCWRBUsrMv2xwcF/y/Z5sV6+FQW+/ow68cHpm4sunt8Q=="
+    },
     "gensync": {
       "version": "1.0.0-beta.2",
       "dev": true
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 64ed1e7e3..be250c824 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
     "@bpmn-io/diagram-js-ui": "^0.2.3",
     "clsx": "^2.1.0",
     "didi": "^10.2.2",
+    "fuse.js": "^7.0.0",
     "inherits-browser": "^0.1.0",
     "min-dash": "^4.1.0",
     "min-dom": "^4.1.0",
diff --git a/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponentSpec.js b/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponentSpec.js
index 6ce440fea..9cd032da2 100644
--- a/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponentSpec.js
+++ b/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuComponentSpec.js
@@ -383,23 +383,22 @@ describe('features/popup-menu - <PopupMenu>', function() {
   describe('search', function() {
 
     const entries = [
-      { id: '1', label: 'Entry 1', description: 'Entry 1 description' },
-      { id: '2', label: 'Entry 2' },
-      { id: '3', label: 'Entry 3' },
-      { id: '4', label: 'Entry 4' },
-      { id: '5', label: 'Entry 5', search: 'foo' },
-      { id: 'some_entry_id', label: 'Last' },
-      { id: '7', label: 'Entry 7' , searchable: false }
+      { id: 1, label: 'Apple' },
+      { id: 2, label: 'Banana' },
+      { id: 3, label: 'Cherry' },
+      { id: 4, label: 'Orange' },
+      { id: 5, label: 'Pineapple' },
+      { id: 6, label: 'Watermelon' }
     ];
 
 
-    it('should filter entries + select first', async function() {
+    it('should filter entries & select first', async function() {
 
       // given
       await createPopupMenu({ container, entries, search: true });
 
       var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = 'Entry 3';
+      searchInput.value = 'orange';
 
       // when
       await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowUp'));
@@ -407,25 +406,28 @@ describe('features/popup-menu - <PopupMenu>', function() {
 
       // then
       expect(domQueryAll('.entry', container)).to.have.length(1);
-      expect(domQuery('.entry', container).textContent).to.eql('Entry 3');
-      expect(domQuery('.selected', container).textContent).to.eql('Entry 3');
+      expect(domQuery('.entry', container).textContent).to.eql('Orange');
+      expect(domQuery('.selected', container).textContent).to.eql('Orange');
+      expect(domQuery('.djs-popup-no-results', container)).not.to.exist;
     });
 
 
-    it('should allow partial search', async function() {
+    it('should filter entries (substring)', async function() {
 
       // given
       await createPopupMenu({ container, entries, search: true });
 
       var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = 'Entry';
+      searchInput.value = 'ora';
 
       // when
       await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowDown'));
       await trigger(searchInput, keyUp('ArrowDown'));
 
       // then
-      expect(domQueryAll('.entry', container)).to.have.length(5);
+      expect(domQueryAll('.entry', container)).to.have.length(1);
+      expect(domQuery('.entry', container).textContent).to.eql('Orange');
+      expect(domQuery('.selected', container).textContent).to.eql('Orange');
       expect(domQuery('.djs-popup-no-results', container)).not.to.exist;
     });
 
@@ -441,7 +443,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu - <PopupMenu>', function() {
       });
 
       var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = 'Foo bar';
+      searchInput.value = 'Blueberry';
 
       // when
       await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowDown'));
@@ -453,76 +455,6 @@ describe('features/popup-menu - <PopupMenu>', function() {
     });
 
 
-    it('should search description', async function() {
-
-      // given
-      await createPopupMenu({ container, entries, search: true });
-
-      var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = entries[0].description;
-
-      // when
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowUp'));
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyUp('ArrowUp'));
-
-      // then
-      expect(domQueryAll('.entry', container)).to.have.length(1);
-      expect(domQuery('.entry .djs-popup-label', container).textContent).to.eql('Entry 1');
-    });
-
-
-    it('should search additional "search" terms', async function() {
-
-      // given
-      await createPopupMenu({ container, entries, search: true });
-
-      var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = entries[4].search;
-
-      // when
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowUp'));
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyUp('ArrowUp'));
-
-      // then
-      expect(domQueryAll('.entry', container)).to.have.length(1);
-      expect(domQuery('.entry .djs-popup-label', container).textContent).to.eql('Entry 5');
-    });
-
-
-    it('should not search id', async function() {
-
-      // given
-      await createPopupMenu({ container, entries, search: true });
-
-      var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = entries[5].id;
-
-      // when
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowUp'));
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyUp('ArrowUp'));
-
-      // then
-      expect(domQueryAll('.entry', container)).to.have.length(0);
-    });
-
-
-    it('should not search non-searchable entries', async function() {
-
-      // given
-      await createPopupMenu({ container, entries, search: true });
-
-      var searchInput = domQuery('.djs-popup-search input', container);
-      searchInput.value = 'entry';
-
-      // when
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyDown('ArrowUp'));
-      await trigger(searchInput, keyUp('ArrowUp'));
-
-      // then
-      expect(domQuery('.entry[data-id="7"]', container)).to.not.exist;
-    });
-
-
     describe('render', function() {
 
       const otherEntries = [
@@ -552,7 +484,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu - <PopupMenu>', function() {
       });
 
 
-      it('should be hidden (less than 5 entries)', async function() {
+      it('should be hidden (5 entries or less)', async function() {
 
         // given
         await createPopupMenu({ container, entries: otherEntries, search: true });
diff --git a/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtilSpec.js b/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtilSpec.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d7621eba9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtilSpec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+import { searchEntries } from '../../../../lib/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSearchUtil';
+
+
+describe('features/popup-menu - PopupMenuSearchUtil', function() {
+
+  describe('ranking', function() {
+
+    it('should hide rank < 0 if not searching', function() {
+
+      // given
+      const entries = [
+        { id: 'entry-1', rank: -1 },
+        { id: 'entry-2' },
+        { id: 'entry-3' }
+      ];
+
+      // when
+      const result = searchEntries(entries, '');
+
+      // then
+      expect(result).to.have.length(2);
+      expect(result[0]).to.equal(entries[1]);
+      expect(result[1]).to.equal(entries[2]);
+    });
+
+  });
+
+
+  describe('searching', function() {
+
+    const entries = [
+      { id: 1, label: 'Apple' },
+      { id: 2, label: 'Banana' },
+      { id: 3, label: 'Cherry' },
+      { id: 4, label: 'Orange' },
+      { id: 5, label: 'Clementine', search: 'Mandarine Tangerine' },
+      { id: 6, label: 'Pineapple', description: 'Tropical fruit' },
+      { id: 7, label: 'Watermelon' }
+    ];
+
+    expectEntries('should find entries by <label> (substring)', entries, [
+      'Banana'
+    ], 'ban');
+
+    expectEntries('should find entries by <label>', entries, [
+      'Banana'
+    ], 'banana');
+
+    expectEntries('should find entries by <label> (superstring)', entries, [
+      'Banana'
+    ], 'bananas');
+
+    expectEntries('should find entries by <label> (below threshold)', entries, [
+      'Banana'
+    ], 'ananas');
+
+    expectEntries('should not find entries by <label> (above threshold)', entries, [], 'panama');
+
+    expectEntries('should find entries by <label> (rank by location)', entries, [
+      'Apple',
+      'Pineapple'
+    ], 'apple');
+
+    expectEntries('shoud find entries by <description>', entries, [
+      'Pineapple'
+    ], 'tropical');
+
+    expectEntries('should find entries by <search>', entries, [
+      'Clementine'
+    ], 'mandarine');
+
+  });
+
+});
+
+function expectEntries(title, entries, expected, search) {
+  it(title, function() {
+
+    // when
+    const result = searchEntries(entries, search);
+
+    // then
+    expect(result).to.have.length(expected.length);
+
+    expected.forEach((label, index) => {
+      expect(result[ index ].label).to.equal(label);
+    });
+  });
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSpec.js b/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSpec.js
index 118e3ddd6..90e2a2363 100755
--- a/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSpec.js
+++ b/test/spec/features/popup-menu/PopupMenuSpec.js
@@ -1363,35 +1363,16 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
     var testMenuProvider = {
       getEntries: function() {
         return [
-          {
-            id: 'a',
-            label: 'Alpha'
-          },
-          {
-            id: 'b',
-            label: 'Bravo'
-          },
-          {
-            id: 'c',
-            label: 'Charlie'
-          },
-          {
-            id: 'search',
-            label: 'Delta',
-            search: 'search'
-          },
-          {
-            id: 'description',
-            label: 'Echo',
-            description: 'description'
-          },
-          {
-            id: 'hidden',
-            label: 'Foxtrot',
-            rank: -1
-          }
+          { id: 1, label: 'Apple' },
+          { id: 2, label: 'Banana' },
+          { id: 3, label: 'Cherry' },
+          { id: 4, label: 'Orange' },
+          { id: 5, label: 'Clementine', search: 'Mandarine Tangerine' },
+          { id: 6, label: 'Pineapple', description: 'Tropical fruit' },
+          { id: 7, label: 'Watermelon', rank: -1 }
         ];
-      }
+      },
+      getEmptyPlaceholder: () => 'No matching entries found.'
     };
 
 
@@ -1401,19 +1382,9 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       popupMenu.registerProvider('test-menu', {
         getEntries: function() {
           return [
-            {
-              id: 'foo',
-              label: 'Foo'
-            },
-            {
-              id: 'bar',
-              label: 'Bar'
-            },
-            {
-              id: 'baz',
-              label: 'Baz',
-              search: 'Bar'
-            }
+            { id: 1, label: 'Apple' },
+            { id: 2, label: 'Banana' },
+            { id: 3, label: 'Cherry' }
           ];
         }
       });
@@ -1435,7 +1406,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
       // when
-      await triggerSearch('alpha');
+      await triggerSearch('banana');
 
       // then
       var shownEntries;
@@ -1446,7 +1417,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
         expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(1);
       });
 
-      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Alpha');
+      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Banana');
     }));
 
 
@@ -1457,7 +1428,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
       // when
-      await triggerSearch('search');
+      await triggerSearch('mandarine');
 
       // then
       var shownEntries;
@@ -1468,7 +1439,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
         expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(1);
       });
 
-      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Delta');
+      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Clementine');
     }));
 
 
@@ -1479,7 +1450,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
       // when
-      await triggerSearch('description');
+      await triggerSearch('tropical');
 
       // then
       var shownEntries;
@@ -1490,30 +1461,30 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
         expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(1);
       });
 
-      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Echo');
-      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-entry-description').textContent).to.eql('description');
+      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Pineapple');
+      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-entry-description').textContent).to.eql('Tropical fruit');
     }));
 
 
-    it('should show search results (matching label & search)', inject(async function(popupMenu) {
+    it('should not show search results (cannot match label & search at the same time)', inject(async function(popupMenu) {
 
       // given
       popupMenu.registerProvider('test-menu', testMenuProvider);
       popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
       // when
-      await triggerSearch('delta search');
+      await triggerSearch('pineapple tropical');
 
       // then
-      var shownEntries;
+      var noSearchResultsNode;
 
       await waitFor(() => {
-        shownEntries = queryPopupAll('.entry');
+        noSearchResultsNode = queryPopup('.djs-popup-no-results');
 
-        expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(1);
+        expect(noSearchResultsNode).to.exist;
       });
 
-      expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Delta');
+      expect(noSearchResultsNode.textContent).to.eql('No matching entries found.');
     }));
 
 
@@ -1533,11 +1504,11 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
         await waitFor(() => {
           shownEntries = queryPopupAll('.entry');
 
-          expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(5);
+          expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(6);
         });
 
         expect(Array.from(shownEntries).find(entry => {
-          entry.querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent === 'Foxtrot';
+          entry.querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent === 'Watermelon';
         })).not.to.exist;
       }));
 
@@ -1549,7 +1520,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
         popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
         // when
-        await triggerSearch('foxtrot');
+        await triggerSearch('watermelon');
 
         // then
         var shownEntries;
@@ -1560,7 +1531,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
           expect(shownEntries).to.have.length(1);
         });
 
-        expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Foxtrot');
+        expect(shownEntries[0].querySelector('.djs-popup-label').textContent).to.eql('Watermelon');
       }));
 
     });
@@ -1578,7 +1549,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
       // when
-      await triggerSearch('foobar');
+      await triggerSearch('cucumber');
 
       // then
       await waitFor(() => {
@@ -1609,7 +1580,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       popupMenu.open({}, 'test-menu', { x: 100, y: 100 }, { search: true });
 
       // when
-      await triggerSearch('foobar');
+      await triggerSearch('cucumber');
 
       // then
       await waitFor(() => {
@@ -1625,7 +1596,7 @@ describe('features/popup-menu', function() {
       var customNode = domQuery('.custom-empty-placeholder', noSearchResultsNode);
 
       expect(customNode).to.exist;
-      expect(customNode.textContent).to.eql('foobar');
+      expect(customNode.textContent).to.eql('cucumber');
     }));
 
   });