diff --git a/milli/src/search/criteria/mod.rs b/milli/src/search/criteria/mod.rs
index 05305d724..4613acb4f 100644
--- a/milli/src/search/criteria/mod.rs
+++ b/milli/src/search/criteria/mod.rs
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ pub fn resolve_query_tree<'t>(
                     // Get all the documents with the matching distance for each word pairs.
                     let mut bitmaps = Vec::with_capacity(winsize.pow(2));
                     for (offset, s1) in win.iter().enumerate() {
-                        for (dist, s2) in win.iter().skip(offset).enumerate() {
+                        for (dist, s2) in win.iter().skip(offset + 1).enumerate() {
                             match ctx.word_pair_proximity_docids(s1, s2, dist as u8 + 1)? {
                                 Some(m) => bitmaps.push(m),
                                 // If there are no document for this distance, there will be no
diff --git a/milli/src/search/criteria/proximity.rs b/milli/src/search/criteria/proximity.rs
index 2bfa61e85..30919585b 100644
--- a/milli/src/search/criteria/proximity.rs
+++ b/milli/src/search/criteria/proximity.rs
@@ -192,22 +192,42 @@ fn resolve_candidates<'t>(
                     let most_right = words
                         .last()
                         .map(|w| Query { prefix: false, kind: QueryKind::exact(w.clone()) });
-                    let mut candidates = None;
-                    for slice in words.windows(2) {
-                        let (left, right) = (&slice[0], &slice[1]);
-                        match ctx.word_pair_proximity_docids(left, right, 1)? {
-                            Some(pair_docids) => match candidates.as_mut() {
-                                Some(candidates) => *candidates &= pair_docids,
-                                None => candidates = Some(pair_docids),
-                            },
-                            None => {
-                                candidates = None;
+                    let mut candidates = RoaringBitmap::new();
+                    let mut first_iter = true;
+                    let winsize = words.len().min(7);
+
+                    for win in words.windows(winsize) {
+                        // Get all the documents with the matching distance for each word pairs.
+                        let mut bitmaps = Vec::with_capacity(winsize.pow(2));
+                        for (offset, s1) in win.iter().enumerate() {
+                            for (dist, s2) in win.iter().skip(offset + 1).enumerate() {
+                                match ctx.word_pair_proximity_docids(s1, s2, dist as u8 + 1)? {
+                                    Some(m) => bitmaps.push(m),
+                                    // If there are no document for this distance, there will be no
+                                    // results for the phrase query.
+                                    None => return Ok(Default::default()),
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+
+                        // We sort the bitmaps so that we perform the small intersections first, which is faster.
+                        bitmaps.sort_unstable_by(|a, b| a.len().cmp(&b.len()));
+
+                        for bitmap in bitmaps {
+                            if first_iter {
+                                candidates = bitmap;
+                                first_iter = false;
+                            } else {
+                                candidates &= bitmap;
+                            }
+                            // There will be no match, return early
+                            if candidates.is_empty() {
                                 break;
                             }
                         }
                     }
-                    match (most_left, most_right, candidates) {
-                        (Some(l), Some(r), Some(c)) => vec![(l, r, c)],
+                    match (most_left, most_right) {
+                        (Some(l), Some(r)) => vec![(l, r, candidates)],
                         _otherwise => Default::default(),
                     }
                 } else {