Search engine devices include a content addressable memory (CAM) core having a plurality of CAM array blocks therein and a control circuit that is electrically coupled to the CAM core. The control circuit is configured to support internal error detection and correction operations using modified Hamming code words. These operations are performed without significant impact on the compare bandwidth of the search engine device, even when operations to read entries from the CAM core are performed as foreground operations that may block concurrent search operations. The control circuit may perform the error detection and correction operations by issuing multiple read instructions. These instructions include a first instruction (e.g., error check instruction) to read at least a first entry into the CAM core for the purpose of error detection and then, in response to detecting the first entry as erroneous, issuing a second instruction to read the first entry from the CAM core. The entry is then corrected and written back into the CAM core.