@coffee2code
That’s a good point. In other languages as well, if spaces were ignored as separators, it would also prove problematic for word matching.
The current work around of appending/prepending the separator is not bad at all. It’s been working well for me so far, and hardly even noticeable actually.
The suggestion on using two input fields will definitely offer more flexibility for other users; but in my case, I will have to stick with the work around, as it may potentially confuse a compound word of multiple characters with those ignoring the space (i.e. the plain form). Resulting in a double hover text, one for the compound word, and one within it (in the plain form).
Appreciate the suggestion though. As it is, it has been working for my use case. So no complaints. Thanks.