diff --git a/Classes/Backend/AbstractBackend.php b/Classes/Backend/AbstractBackend.php
index aff993b..68e3eeb 100644
--- a/Classes/Backend/AbstractBackend.php
+++ b/Classes/Backend/AbstractBackend.php
@@ -33,6 +33,17 @@ public abstract function initialize();
      */
     public abstract function search(string $searchString, int $currentPage, $category = null): array;
 
+    /**
+     * Return an array of words for search suggestions
+     *
+     * @param string $searchString
+     * @param int    $maxItems
+     * @param int    $languageUid
+     *
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public abstract function suggest(string $searchString, int $maxItems, int $languageUid): array;
+
     /**
      * Takes the raw result row and converts it into a standardized format to be used in the output.
      *
diff --git a/Classes/Backend/IndexedSearchBackend.php b/Classes/Backend/IndexedSearchBackend.php
index 5959b41..45bafe0 100644
--- a/Classes/Backend/IndexedSearchBackend.php
+++ b/Classes/Backend/IndexedSearchBackend.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use TYPO3\CMS\Backend\Utility\BackendUtility;
 use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Context\Context;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Database\ConnectionPool;
 use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility;
 use TYPO3\CMS\Frontend\Controller\TypoScriptFrontendController;
 use TYPO3\CMS\IndexedSearch\Domain\Repository\IndexSearchRepository;
@@ -84,6 +85,29 @@ function ($item) {
         return $data;
     }
 
+    public function suggest(string $searchString, int $maxItems, int $languageUid): array
+    {
+        $queryBuilder = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(ConnectionPool::class)->getQueryBuilderForTable('index_words');
+        $queryBuilder
+            ->select('w.baseword')
+            ->from('index_words', 'w')
+            ->join('w', 'index_rel', 'r', 'w.wid=r.wid')
+            ->join('r', 'index_phash', 'p', 'r.phash=p.phash')
+            ->where(
+                $queryBuilder->expr()->like('w.baseword', $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter($searchString . '%')),
+                $queryBuilder->expr()->eq('p.sys_language_uid', $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter($languageUid, \PDO::PARAM_INT))
+            )
+            ->groupBy('w.baseword')
+            ->setMaxResults($maxItems)
+            ->orderBy('w.baseword', 'asc');
+
+        $result = $queryBuilder->executeQuery();
+        $words = $result->fetchFirstColumn();
+        $result->free();
+
+        return $words;
+    }
+
     protected function initializeSearchRepository($searchData, int $itemsPerPage)
     {
         $searchData['languageUid'] = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(Context::class)->getPropertyFromAspect('language', 'id', 0);
diff --git a/Classes/Middleware/SuggestMiddleware.php b/Classes/Middleware/SuggestMiddleware.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62785b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Classes/Middleware/SuggestMiddleware.php
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace WEBcoast\VersatileSearch\Middleware;
+
+use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
+use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
+use Psr\Http\Server\MiddlewareInterface;
+use Psr\Http\Server\RequestHandlerInterface;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Configuration\Exception\ExtensionConfigurationPathDoesNotExistException;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Configuration\ExtensionConfiguration;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Http\JsonResponse;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Site\Entity\SiteLanguage;
+use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility;
+use WEBcoast\VersatileSearch\Backend\AbstractBackend;
+use WEBcoast\VersatileSearch\Utility\BackendUtility;
+
+class SuggestMiddleware implements MiddlewareInterface
+{
+    public function process(ServerRequestInterface $request, RequestHandlerInterface $handler): ResponseInterface
+    {
+        if ($request->getUri()->getPath() === '/search-auto-complete') {
+            $searchString = $request->getQueryParams()['q'];
+            try {
+                $minCharacters = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(ExtensionConfiguration::class)->get('versatile_search', 'suggest.minCharacters') ?? 3;
+            } catch (ExtensionConfigurationPathDoesNotExistException $exception) {
+                $minCharacters = 3;
+            }
+
+            if (empty($searchString) || mb_strlen($searchString) < $minCharacters) {
+                return new JsonResponse([]);
+            }
+
+            /** @var AbstractBackend $backend */
+            $backend = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(BackendUtility::getSearchBackend(), []);
+            try {
+                $maxItems = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(ExtensionConfiguration::class)->get('versatile_search', 'suggest.maxItems') ?? 10;
+            } catch (ExtensionConfigurationPathDoesNotExistException $exception) {
+                $maxItems = 10;
+            }
+            /** @var SiteLanguage $language */
+            $language = $request->getAttribute('language');
+
+            $suggestions = $backend->suggest($searchString, $maxItems, $language->getLanguageId());
+
+            return new JsonResponse($suggestions);
+        }
+
+        return $handler->handle($request);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/Configuration/RequestMiddlewares.php b/Configuration/RequestMiddlewares.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff89314
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Configuration/RequestMiddlewares.php
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<?php
+
+return [
+    'frontend' => [
+        'versatile-search/suggest' => [
+            'target' => \WEBcoast\VersatileSearch\Middleware\SuggestMiddleware::class,
+            'after' => [
+                'typo3/cms-frontend/maintenance-mode'
+            ],
+            'before' => [
+                'typo3/cms-frontend/backend-user-authentication'
+            ]
+        ]
+    ]
+];
diff --git a/ext_conf_template.txt b/ext_conf_template.txt
index 31fa59f..e45643b 100644
--- a/ext_conf_template.txt
+++ b/ext_conf_template.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 # cat=General; type=options[LLL:EXT:versatile_search/Resources/Private/Language/backend.xlf:conf.search.backend.indexed_search=indexed_search,LLL:EXT:versatile_search/Resources/Private/Language/backend.xlf:conf.search.backend.none=none]; label=LLL:EXT:versatile_search/Resources/Private/Language/backend.xlf:conf.search.backend
 search.backend = indexed_search
+
+suggest.maxItems = 10
+suggest.minCharacters = 3