my %hash = ('Abend' => 'NN', 'Sonne' => 'NN', 'Haus' => 'NN', 'Abendsonne' => 'who knows', ); for my $word ( keys %hash ) { for my $pre ( keys %hash ) { for my $post ( keys %hash ) { if ( "\L$word" eq "\L$pre$post" ) { print $word, $/; } } } }