diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0a19efb..f8abeec 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ All notable changes to `odh-cli` are documented here.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- `datasets guide` ranks catalogue matches by how many query terms hit instead
+  of requiring every word. Natural phrases like `roadworks on a state road` no
+  longer return nothing while the bare topic still matched; filler words reuse
+  the traffic search stopword list. `datasets search` keeps the stricter
+  all-terms filter. Refs #14.
 - `traffic search` no longer matches alphabetic terms inside other words.
   Searching `auer` used to hit every `Stützmauern` notice; terms now match at a
   word boundary (prefix still allowed, so cycle aliases like `radweg` keep
diff --git a/internal/commands/datasets.go b/internal/commands/datasets.go
index a8405ad..465ac55 100644
--- a/internal/commands/datasets.go
+++ b/internal/commands/datasets.go
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ into agent answers.`,
 			}
 			query := strings.Join(args, " ")
 			entries := filterDatasetsByDomain(datasetCatalog(), guideDomain)
-			entries = filterDatasetsByQuery(entries, query)
+			entries = rankDatasetsByQuery(entries, query)
 			if guideLimit > 0 && len(entries) > guideLimit {
 				entries = entries[:guideLimit]
 			}
@@ -174,13 +174,7 @@ func filterDatasetsByQuery(entries []datasetEntry, query string) []datasetEntry
 	terms := strings.Fields(strings.ToLower(query))
 	filtered := make([]datasetEntry, 0, len(entries))
 	for _, entry := range entries {
-		haystack := strings.ToLower(strings.Join(append([]string{
-			entry.ID,
-			entry.Domain,
-			entry.API,
-			entry.Title,
-			entry.Description,
-		}, entry.Keywords...), " "))
+		haystack := datasetEntryHaystack(entry)
 		matched := true
 		for _, term := range terms {
 			if !strings.Contains(haystack, term) {
@@ -195,6 +189,70 @@ func filterDatasetsByQuery(entries []datasetEntry, query string) []datasetEntry
 	return filtered
 }
 
+// rankDatasetsByQuery scores catalogue entries by how many query terms hit and
+// returns them best-first. Terms that hit nothing are dropped rather than
+// requiring every word — guide is the natural-language entry point, so extra
+// sentence words must not erase a real match. datasets search keeps the stricter
+// all-terms filter.
+func rankDatasetsByQuery(entries []datasetEntry, query string) []datasetEntry {
+	terms := datasetGuideQueryTerms(query)
+	if len(terms) == 0 {
+		out := make([]datasetEntry, len(entries))
+		copy(out, entries)
+		return out
+	}
+	type scored struct {
+		entry datasetEntry
+		score int
+	}
+	ranked := make([]scored, 0, len(entries))
+	for _, entry := range entries {
+		haystack := datasetEntryHaystack(entry)
+		score := 0
+		for _, term := range terms {
+			if strings.Contains(haystack, term) {
+				score++
+			}
+		}
+		if score > 0 {
+			ranked = append(ranked, scored{entry: entry, score: score})
+		}
+	}
+	sort.SliceStable(ranked, func(i, j int) bool {
+		if ranked[i].score != ranked[j].score {
+			return ranked[i].score > ranked[j].score
+		}
+		return ranked[i].entry.ID < ranked[j].entry.ID
+	})
+	out := make([]datasetEntry, len(ranked))
+	for i, item := range ranked {
+		out[i] = item.entry
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func datasetGuideQueryTerms(query string) []string {
+	terms := strings.Fields(strings.ToLower(query))
+	out := make([]string, 0, len(terms))
+	for _, term := range terms {
+		if trafficSearchStopword(term) {
+			continue
+		}
+		out = append(out, term)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func datasetEntryHaystack(entry datasetEntry) string {
+	return strings.ToLower(strings.Join(append([]string{
+		entry.ID,
+		entry.Domain,
+		entry.API,
+		entry.Title,
+		entry.Description,
+	}, entry.Keywords...), " "))
+}
+
 func datasetGuideFor(entry datasetEntry) datasetGuideEntry {
 	guidance := datasetGuideEntry{Dataset: entry}
 	switch entry.ID {
diff --git a/internal/commands/runner_test.go b/internal/commands/runner_test.go
index 6b22a9a..2ce2896 100644
--- a/internal/commands/runner_test.go
+++ b/internal/commands/runner_test.go
@@ -279,6 +279,70 @@ func TestRunDatasetsGuideTable(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// Guide is the natural-language entry point: extra sentence words must rank
+// matches, not erase them. "roadworks on a state road" used to return nothing
+// while "roadworks" returned the traffic catalogue entry.
+func TestRunDatasetsGuideRanksNaturalPhrasing(t *testing.T) {
+	runner := newTestRunner(t, nil)
+	phrases := []struct {
+		query string
+		want  string
+	}{
+		{"roadworks", "mobility.traffic-events"},
+		{"roadworks on a state road", "mobility.traffic-events"},
+		{"where can I park and see forecasts", "mobility.parking"},
+		{"ev charging availability nearby", "mobility.charging"},
+	}
+	for _, phrase := range phrases {
+		var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
+		code := runner.Run(context.Background(), []string{"datasets", "guide", phrase.query, "--limit", "3"}, &stdout, &stderr)
+		if code != 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("guide %q exit = %d, stderr = %s", phrase.query, code, stderr.String())
+		}
+		var decoded struct {
+			Count   int `json:"count"`
+			Matches []struct {
+				Dataset struct {
+					ID string `json:"id"`
+				} `json:"dataset"`
+			} `json:"matches"`
+		}
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(stdout.Bytes(), &decoded); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("guide %q invalid JSON: %v\n%s", phrase.query, err, stdout.String())
+		}
+		if decoded.Count == 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("guide %q returned no matches", phrase.query)
+		}
+		found := false
+		for _, match := range decoded.Matches {
+			if match.Dataset.ID == phrase.want {
+				found = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if !found {
+			t.Fatalf("guide %q missing %s in %s", phrase.query, phrase.want, stdout.String())
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRankDatasetsByQueryPrefersMoreTermHits(t *testing.T) {
+	entries := []datasetEntry{
+		{ID: "a", Title: "roadworks only", Keywords: []string{"roadworks"}},
+		{ID: "b", Title: "parking forecast", Keywords: []string{"parking", "forecast"}},
+		{ID: "c", Title: "unrelated", Keywords: []string{"tourism"}},
+	}
+	ranked := rankDatasetsByQuery(entries, "parking forecast near me")
+	if len(ranked) != 1 || ranked[0].ID != "b" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected only parking forecast ranked first, got %#v", ranked)
+	}
+	// Stopwords and unmatched filler must not wipe a single catalogue hit.
+	ranked = rankDatasetsByQuery(entries, "roadworks on a state road")
+	if len(ranked) != 1 || ranked[0].ID != "a" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected roadworks to survive filler words, got %#v", ranked)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestDatasetCatalogCommandStringsParse(t *testing.T) {
 	seen := map[string]struct{}{}
 	commands := make([]string, 0)