An apparatus and method is disclosed for detecting CAM words having a "near match" condition, where "near match" is defined by a CAM word having one or more mismatching bits. Each cell in a CAM word is connected to a match line, where a small known current is impressed upon the line each time a bit does not match with search data. The total current is sensed to establish a priority for each respective CAM word. Each priority for each CAM word is then decoded to determine the Cam word having the highest priority. Under an alternate embodiment, a minimum priority level select circuit is disclosed, where a user may specify an acceptable priority level that is generated from a CAM word search.