The easiest way to search for full words in mysql is to use regular expressions. According to this article you need to use these markers - [[:<:]], [[:>:]]

that stand for word boundaries.

First, build a variable from the search parameter :

$val = addslashes($_GET[’search’]);               

Construct a regular expression pattern: 

$reg =’[[:<:]]’. $val .’[[:>:]]’ ;           

Finally, build a sql statement:

Select comments from table1 where comments REGEXP ‘$reg’ 

 So far, it has worked for me.