XLOOKUP Multiple Matches UK Guide

A spreadsheet can look perfectly civilised right up until it isn’t. One moment you are checking stock codes, invoice numbers or pupil records; the next, Excel calmly returns a single answer from a list that clearly contains several. It feels a bit like asking for “the best chippy in town” and being given one name as though the matter were settled for all time. Useful, perhaps. Complete, not quite.

That is the heart of the problem with XLOOKUP and multiple matches. XLOOKUP is brilliant, modern and far more flexible than VLOOKUP, but by design it usually returns one matching result, not every matching result. For many UK users, that is exactly where confusion begins.

This guide explains what is happening, why Excel behaves that way, and what to do when your data contains duplicates. You will see when XLOOKUP is enough, when FILTER is the better tool, how to return the first match, the last match or all matches, and how to avoid the quiet little data mistakes that make reports look right while being wrong.

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Quick Answers About What If XLOOKUP Has Multiple Matches?

Does XLOOKUP return all matches?

No. In its normal form, XLOOKUP returns the first match it finds. If your lookup value appears more than once, Excel stops at the first suitable result in the search direction you have chosen. That is why duplicate values can produce incomplete answers if you expected a full list.

Can XLOOKUP return the last match instead?

Yes. By changing the search mode to reverse search, XLOOKUP can start from the bottom and return the last matching result. That is handy for latest prices, most recent status updates or the newest logged entry in a repeated record set.

What is the best Excel function for multiple matches?

In modern Excel, FILTER is usually the best function when you want every matching row or value. It returns a spilled list rather than a single cell result, which makes it better suited to duplicate entries, transaction logs, attendance lists and similar datasets.

Why does XLOOKUP ignore the other matches?

It is not ignoring them by accident. XLOOKUP is designed as a single-result lookup tool unless you use it inside a wider array-based approach. It was built to improve on VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP, not to replace every kind of multi-row filtering or database-style query.

How do I return multiple values for one lookup value in Excel?

Use FILTER to return all matching values or rows. For example, if several rows contain the same customer ID, FILTER can pull back each of those rows at once. Older workbooks may need more complex INDEX, SMALL and IF combinations instead.

Can I combine XLOOKUP with FILTER?

Yes, and often you should. XLOOKUP is excellent for single-answer retrieval, while FILTER is better for all-answer retrieval. In real workbooks, they often sit side by side: one for summary cells, the other for expandable detail sections or audit views.

Does this work in older versions of Excel?

Not always. XLOOKUP, FILTER and dynamic arrays are modern Excel features available in Microsoft 365 and newer perpetual releases such as Excel 2021 and Excel 2024. If you are using older versions, you may need INDEX/MATCH or legacy array formulas instead.

What Is XLOOKUP Actually Designed to Do? A Clear Definition Before the Troubleshooting

Let us start with the basic rule. XLOOKUP searches for a value and returns a corresponding result from another range.

That simple description matters because it explains the whole multiple-match issue. XLOOKUP was created to make lookups easier, more readable and more robust than older functions such as VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. It can look left, right, up or down. It defaults to exact match. It has a built-in “if not found” option. In everyday spreadsheet life, it is a substantial improvement.

But it still follows the logic of a lookup rather than a query. A lookup assumes that one value should lead to one useful answer. Think of an employee number returning a surname, or a product code returning a unit cost. Where your data behaves like a tidy reference table, XLOOKUP is superb.

The moment your data behaves more like a logbook, sales ledger or booking register, things change. Then one lookup value may relate to several rows. A customer may have many orders. A student may have many absences. A stock item may have many deliveries. In those cases, you have moved from a single-answer problem to a multiple-answer problem.

And that is where many frustrated users discover that the formula is not wrong. The data model is.

Why Does XLOOKUP Return Only One Result? Understanding the First-Match Behaviour

Here is the key point in plain English. XLOOKUP normally returns the first match it encounters in the chosen search direction.

If Excel begins at the top of your lookup array and finds a match on the third row, it returns the linked value from that row and stops. It does not continue searching for every other possible match. That is the expected behaviour.

A simple example

Imagine this list:

Order ID	Customer	Amount
1001	Taylor	£45
1002	Ahmed	£80
1003	Taylor	£15
1004	Jones	£62

If you use a formula like:

=XLOOKUP("Taylor",B2:B5,C2:C5)

Excel returns £45, because that is the amount linked to the first Taylor in the list.

It does not return £15 as well. It does not build a mini report. It simply does the first valid match and moves on with its life.

Why this catches people out

It catches people out because duplicate values are incredibly common in real organisations. A British retailer might have repeated product names across branches. A school office might see the same pupil name more than once across attendance events. A finance team might have repeated supplier names across invoices. In all of those cases, XLOOKUP can produce a result that looks sensible but is only partial.

That is more dangerous than an obvious error. A #N/A at least waves a flag. A plausible answer can quietly mislead.

When Is One Match Enough? Situations Where XLOOKUP Works Perfectly Well

Before we rush to replace XLOOKUP with something more elaborate, it is worth saying this: single-match behaviour is often exactly what you want.

That is especially true when your lookup column is meant to contain unique identifiers.

Common single-match use cases

Employee ID to employee name
SKU to unit price
Postcode sector to sales territory
Invoice number to invoice date
NHS trust code to trust name
UCAS course code to course title

In these examples, duplicates in the lookup field usually signal a data quality problem. If two rows share a supposedly unique invoice number, the fix is not to make the lookup cleverer. The fix is to clean the source data.

So the first practical question is not “How do I force XLOOKUP to return more?” It is this:

Should there be multiple matches here at all?

If the honest answer is no, you may need data validation, conditional formatting, COUNTIF checks, or a better import process rather than a fancier formula.

What If There Should Be Multiple Matches? Choosing the Right Strategy for the Job

Once you know duplicates are legitimate, you need to decide what sort of answer you actually need.

This is the fork in the road.

Strategy 1: Return the first match

Use standard XLOOKUP when the earliest matching record is the useful one.

Strategy 2: Return the last match

Use XLOOKUP with reverse search when the latest matching record is what matters.

Strategy 3: Return all matches

Use FILTER when you want every matching value or row.

Strategy 4: Return one of several matches based on extra criteria

Use FILTER, XLOOKUP with helper columns, or combinations involving SORT, LET and XMATCH.

Strategy 5: Summarise repeated matches rather than list them

Use COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, SUMIFS, pivot tables or Power Query if you want totals, counts or grouped outputs.

That distinction matters. A lookup formula cannot be expected to behave like a database report, and a database-style output can become awkward if all you really needed was the newest value from a repeated record.

How Do You Return the First Match? The Straightforward XLOOKUP Method

This is the easiest case. To return the first match, use XLOOKUP in its default mode.

Example:

=XLOOKUP(E2,A2:A100,C2:C100,"Not found")

Here:

E2 is the value you are searching for
A2:A100 is the lookup column
C2:C100 is the return column
"Not found" handles missing values politely

If the lookup value appears several times in A2:A100, Excel returns the result linked to the first occurrence.

When this is useful

First order placed by a customer
First date a complaint was logged
First assigned adviser for a case
First status on a timeline where the earliest record matters

This is simple, readable and fast. The mistake is not in using it. The mistake is in using it when you really wanted all records.

How Do You Return the Last Match? Using Reverse Search in XLOOKUP

Here is where XLOOKUP gets more interesting. You can make XLOOKUP search from the bottom up and return the last match.

Use the search_mode argument:

=XLOOKUP(E2,A2:A100,C2:C100,"Not found",0,-1)

The final -1 tells Excel to perform a reverse search.

Why this matters

This is extremely useful for datasets that grow over time. Many workbooks are really append-only logs: new rows are added at the bottom, and the latest entry is the most relevant.

Typical last-match scenarios

Latest quoted price for a supplier
Most recent project status
Last attendance code recorded for a pupil
Newest meter reading
Final delivery update for an order

In a British business context, this can be gold dust for operations teams. Imagine a sheet tracking parcel scans or job statuses. The customer reference might repeat twenty times, but the bottom-most entry tells you the current position. Reverse XLOOKUP makes that easy.

A note of caution

Last match is only meaningful if row order reflects time or priority. If rows have been sorted alphabetically, filtered oddly or pasted in from various places, “last” may not mean “latest”. In those cases, you may need to sort by date first or use a formula based on a date column.

How Do You Return All Matches? Why FILTER Is Usually the Best Modern Answer

Now we arrive at the real solution for most multiple-match problems. FILTER returns every row or value that meets your condition.

That is why it is usually a better fit than XLOOKUP when duplicates are expected.

Basic FILTER example

Suppose column A contains customer names and columns A to C hold the full dataset. To return every row for the name in E2, use:

=FILTER(A2:C100,A2:A100=E2,"No matches")

If E2 contains Taylor, the formula spills all matching rows into the cells below and across.

Why FILTER feels different

FILTER does not pretend there is one definitive answer. It says: here are all the rows that meet your rule. That is a much better mental model for transaction data.

Good use cases for FILTER

All orders from one customer
All employees in one department
All purchases in one month when used with date criteria
All late invoices for one supplier
All products in one category
All service tickets assigned to one engineer

Returning only one column

If you only want matching values from a single return column, you can narrow the array:

=FILTER(C2:C100,A2:A100=E2,"No matches")

That would return only the values from column C where column A equals the chosen lookup value.

Why this is a major shift in Excel

The rise of dynamic arrays changed the way Excel formulas behave. Instead of forcing users into tortured older constructions, modern Excel lets one formula spill multiple results naturally. For users who learned on older versions, this feels almost suspiciously tidy.

But here’s the interesting part. That tidiness is not just cosmetic. It changes workbook design. Instead of hiding helper formulas down hundreds of rows, you can create a clean search area that expands and contracts automatically.

What Are Dynamic Arrays and Spill Ranges? The Mechanism Behind Modern Multi-Match Formulas

A dynamic array is a formula result that can return more than one value. Excel then places those values into neighbouring cells automatically. That behaviour is called spilling.

If you enter a FILTER formula in one cell and it returns six records, Excel spills the results into a six-row range. You do not copy the formula down manually. One formula generates the full output.

Why spill ranges matter

This affects layout. You need enough empty cells below and to the right for the result to expand. If something blocks the spill area, Excel returns a #SPILL! error.

Practical spill tips

Leave clear space around dynamic array formulas
Avoid typing over the spill area
Consider placing results on a separate sheet or output panel
Use Excel Tables for source data, but remember spilled formulas themselves sit outside the table structure

A quietly useful habit

Name your input cell clearly. Put the search term in a visible place, add a label such as “Customer search”, and give the spill range breathing room. It turns a formula into a tool someone else can actually use without swearing at it.

Can You Use XLOOKUP and FILTER Together? Building Better Search Sections in Real Workbooks

Yes, and in serious workbooks this is often the best arrangement. Use XLOOKUP for the headline answer and FILTER for the supporting detail.

Imagine a customer service workbook.

One XLOOKUP returns the customer’s account manager
Another returns the current account status
A FILTER formula below returns all open cases for that customer

That combination mirrors how people think. They want a quick summary first and the evidence beneath it.

Example structure

Search box in B2
Account manager in B4: =XLOOKUP(B2,CustomerID,Manager,"Not found")
Account type in B5: =XLOOKUP(B2,CustomerID,Type,"Not found")
Matching transactions starting in A8: =FILTER(TransactionTable,TransactionCustomerID=B2,"No transactions")

That is clearer than trying to force XLOOKUP to do something it was not primarily designed to do.

What If You Need Multiple Matches But Also Need Them Sorted? Using FILTER with SORT and SORTBY

Sometimes returning all matches is only half the task. You may also need them in a useful order.

SORT and SORTBY are perfect companions to FILTER.

Sort matching rows by date

=SORT(FILTER(A2:D100,B2:B100=G2,"No matches"),1,1)

This sorts the filtered result by the first column in ascending order.

Sort by a specific column

=SORTBY(FILTER(A2:D100,B2:B100=G2,"No matches"),D2:D100,-1)

That returns matching rows and sorts them by column D in descending order.

Why this matters in practice

A list of duplicate matches is not automatically useful. If a procurement team pulls all entries for one supplier, they may want the newest invoices first. If an HR team pulls repeated absence records, they may want date order. Sorting turns raw matches into a readable story.

What If You Need a Unique List First? Using UNIQUE Before or After FILTER

Another common pattern is this: duplicates exist, but you want to reduce noise.

UNIQUE returns distinct values from a range or array.

Example: unique customers from a transaction list

=UNIQUE(A2:A1000)

Example: unique products bought by one customer

=UNIQUE(FILTER(C2:C1000,A2:A1000=G2,""))

This can be far more useful than listing the same product line twenty times.

Why people like this pattern

It helps when the question is not “Show me every row” but “Show me the different things associated with this item.” That is a slightly different intent, and it is worth recognising early.

What If You Need One Match Based on More Than One Condition? Multi-Criteria Solutions Explained

Many real spreadsheet questions are not truly about duplicates. They are about insufficient criteria.

A surname may repeat, but a surname plus postcode may not. A product name may repeat, but a product name plus branch may identify one row. In other words, what looks like a multiple-match problem is sometimes a one-match problem with incomplete lookup logic.

Example with FILTER

To return all rows where customer is in G2 and month is in H2:

=FILTER(A2:D100,(A2:A100=G2)*(B2:B100=H2),"No matches")

The multiplication operator acts like AND.

Example with XLOOKUP via a helper key

Create a helper column combining two fields, such as:

=A2&"|"&B2

Then use:

=XLOOKUP(G2&"|"&H2,HelperRange,ReturnRange,"Not found")

Which approach is better?

Use FILTER if several rows may still match
Use XLOOKUP with a helper key if the combined criteria should identify one row

This is one of the most common turning points in workbook design. Often the formula problem fades once the dataset is defined more precisely.

What If You Are Using an Older Version of Excel? INDEX, MATCH and Legacy Array Approaches

Not everyone is using Microsoft 365 on a shiny current install. Plenty of UK offices still run older versions, especially in long-established organisations with cautious IT policies and budgets that do not exactly inspire poetry.

If you do not have FILTER or XLOOKUP, you can still return multiple matches, but the formulas are more complicated.

The older logic

Traditional multi-match formulas often combine:

INDEX
MATCH
SMALL
IF
sometimes ROW

These formulas can work, but they are harder to write, harder to audit and easier to break.

Why INDEX/MATCH still matters

Even in modern Excel, INDEX/MATCH remains useful knowledge. It teaches the logic beneath lookups and still appears in older inherited workbooks. If you support spreadsheets across a team, you will almost certainly encounter it.

A cluster topic worth its own guide

This is one of those subtopics that could easily become a standalone article: XLOOKUP vs INDEX/MATCH. For many users, the real challenge is not just getting the answer, but deciding which lookup pattern is sensible for the workbook’s age, audience and maintenance needs.

What If the Problem Is Really Dirty Data? Duplicates, Spaces and Mismatched Formats

Here is the part many people skip. Formula trouble is often data trouble wearing a false moustache.

Two entries may look identical while actually differing because of:

leading or trailing spaces
non-printing characters
text stored as numbers
inconsistent dates
inconsistent capitalisation in related processes
imported values containing hidden formatting oddities

Example

Taylor

and

Taylor

may look identical on screen but behave differently in formulas.

Useful cleaning tools

TRIM removes extra spaces
CLEAN strips certain non-printing characters
VALUE converts text numbers into numbers
TEXT standardises display formats
Power Query can clean imported datasets far more systematically

Why this matters for multiple matches

Sometimes users think XLOOKUP is missing duplicates when in fact the duplicates are not truly identical. Other times users think there are unique values when hidden inconsistencies are creating phantom duplicates.

That is why data cleaning sits right beside lookup design. Not glamorous, but absolutely essential.

How Can You Check Whether Duplicates Exist? Quick Audit Methods Before You Write Complex Formulas

Before committing to a formula strategy, it is worth checking the data itself.

COUNTIF for a quick duplicate check

=COUNTIF(A:A,A2)

If the result is greater than 1, the value appears more than once.

Conditional formatting

Use Excel’s duplicate highlighting to spot repeated values visually.

Pivot tables

A pivot table can quickly count how many times each item appears. For large datasets, this is often faster than staring at rows and hoping revelation arrives.

Why auditing first saves time

It tells you whether you are dealing with:

a true one-to-many relationship
accidental duplicates
inconsistent source data
or a misunderstanding of the business process

That distinction can save an afternoon.

Real-World UK Examples: Where Multiple Matches Show Up in Everyday Excel Work

Let us bring this down from formula-land to ordinary working life.

Retail and ecommerce

A product code might appear many times because of repeated sales, returns, transfers and markdowns. XLOOKUP may retrieve one price or one event, but FILTER is better for the full transaction history.

Finance and bookkeeping

A supplier name may appear across many invoices. If you want the latest payment date, reverse XLOOKUP works. If you want all outstanding invoices for month-end review, FILTER is the better fit.

Schools and colleges

A pupil ID may match several attendance entries, safeguarding notes or assessment points. A summary cell may show the latest status, while a spill range shows all related events.

NHS and care administration

A patient or service-user reference might relate to many appointments, notes or contact attempts. Returning all records can support audit, while a single last match may support triage.

Property and lettings

A postcode or property ID may recur across viewings, maintenance visits and invoices. One result is seldom the whole story.

Local government and housing teams

Case references often accumulate multiple actions over time. The challenge is usually not finding a match, but deciding which match matters for the current task.

These examples point to a broader truth. As soon as data becomes historical, procedural or transactional, duplicate keys become normal.

Should You Use Helper Columns, Named Ranges or Excel Tables? Practical Design Choices That Make Formulas Safer

The best formula in the world can still become unpleasant if the workbook around it is messy.

Excel Tables

Excel Tables automatically expand as data grows and make formulas more readable through structured references. They are often the cleanest choice for datasets that will be updated regularly.

Named ranges

Named ranges can make formulas easier to read, especially in dashboards or search panels. A formula built on CustomerID and InvoiceAmount is kinder to the human brain than one built on B2:B9743 and H2:H9743.

Helper columns

A helper column may feel old-fashioned, but it is often the sanest way to combine criteria, standardise data or create stable sort keys. Elegant formulas are nice. Maintainable workbooks are nicer.

In typical British office fashion, the winning solution is often the one that looks slightly less glamorous and works reliably for the colleague who inherits it next quarter.

What About Performance? Will Multi-Match Formulas Slow Down Large Workbooks?

Sometimes, yes.

Dynamic array formulas can be efficient, but workbook performance still depends on size, structure and repetition. If you have thousands of FILTER formulas all scanning entire columns, Excel may begin to feel a bit laboured.

Performance tips

Avoid unnecessarily huge ranges such as A:A in complex dynamic formulas
Use Excel Tables or bounded ranges instead
Keep calculations focused on the actual data area
Reduce repeated logic by using LET
Consider Power Query for heavy transformation work
Use pivot tables for summarised reporting rather than formula-based reinvention of a database

Why LET helps

LET allows you to name intermediate results inside a formula. That makes formulas easier to read and can reduce repeated calculations.

Example:

=LET(matches,FILTER(A2:D100,B2:B100=G2,"No matches"),SORTBY(matches,INDEX(matches,,4),-1))

This is not just tidier. It also makes the logic easier to inspect.

What If FILTER Returns Errors? Common Problems and How to Fix Them

Modern Excel is generous, but not telepathic. FILTER and spilled formulas still fail for recognisable reasons.

`#SPILL!`

Something is blocking the output area. Clear the cells where the results need to spill.

`#CALC!`

This often happens when FILTER would otherwise return an empty array and you have not supplied the optional fallback. Add an [if_empty] argument such as "No matches".

`#REF!`

This can appear in dynamic array scenarios involving linked workbooks if the source workbook is closed.

Wrong-looking results

Check whether your criteria range matches the source array in size, whether data types match, and whether hidden spaces or text-number issues are distorting the match.

A useful debugging habit

Test the condition on its own. For example, type:

=A2:A20=G2

in a safe area and inspect the TRUE/FALSE results. It is a simple way of seeing whether Excel agrees with your idea of what matches.

Is XLOOKUP Better Than VLOOKUP for Duplicate Data? The Upgrade Question Many Users Really Mean

Often, when people ask about XLOOKUP and multiple matches, they are also asking a broader question: is XLOOKUP actually better than VLOOKUP?

The answer is yes, in most modern Excel work.

Why XLOOKUP is better

Exact match by default
Can look left as well as right
Clearer structure
Built-in not-found message
Reverse search available
More flexible than VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP

But the duplicate issue remains

XLOOKUP is better than VLOOKUP, but both are still mainly single-result lookup tools. If you need all matches, you still need a different approach.

That is why another strong cluster topic here is XLOOKUP vs VLOOKUP. Users are not only learning a new function. They are learning a new way to think about lookup tasks.

When Should You Stop Using Formulas and Move to Power Query, Pivot Tables or the Data Model?

There comes a point where a workbook is trying to be a small database in fancy dress.

If you regularly need to:

merge multiple tables
clean inconsistent imports
return large groups of repeated matches
aggregate results by several dimensions
refresh reports from external sources

then formulas may not be the best main engine.

Power Query

Power Query is excellent for importing, cleaning, reshaping and combining data before it hits the worksheet.

Pivot tables

Pivot tables are ideal for summarising repeated records into counts, totals and grouped views.

Data Model and Power Pivot

For more advanced relationships and larger analysis tasks, the Data Model and Power Pivot go further.

Why this matters

At first glance, that sounds odd. Why talk about Power Query in an article about XLOOKUP? Because the real user problem is often not a formula problem. It is a workflow problem. If your workbook regularly wrestles with repeated records at scale, a lookup function may be the wrong front-line tool.

Future Developments: How Modern Excel Is Changing the Way Multi-Match Problems Are Solved

Excel has been shifting steadily from a grid of isolated formulas to a more expressive analysis environment.

Dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP, XMATCH, LET and related functions have made formula design more powerful and more human-readable. That trend suggests the future of multiple-match work in Excel will be:

more spill-based outputs
fewer copied formulas down endless columns
more named logic through LET and LAMBDA
closer integration between worksheet formulas and data transformation tools
cleaner dashboard-style search interfaces

Why XMATCH matters too

XMATCH returns the position of a match rather than the value itself. It is useful when you need match locations, custom search behaviour or more advanced formula patterns.

Why LAMBDA is part of the conversation

With LAMBDA, users can turn repeated formula logic into custom reusable functions. That opens the door to organisation-specific lookup tools, especially in advanced teams.

The broader direction is clear: Excel is becoming better at handling data patterns that once required awkward workarounds.

Best Practices: The Smartest Way to Handle XLOOKUP with Multiple Matches

If you want the shortest practical summary, here it is.

1. Decide whether duplicates are valid

If they are not, fix the data.

2. Decide what answer you actually need

First match, last match, all matches, or a summary.

3. Use the right tool

XLOOKUP for first or last match
FILTER for all matches
COUNTIF or COUNTIFS for counts
SUMIFS for totals
Pivot tables or Power Query for heavier analysis

4. Use extra criteria when needed

A multiple-match problem may just be an under-specified lookup.

5. Keep formulas readable

Use Tables, helper columns, named ranges and LET where appropriate.

6. Audit the data

Check duplicates, spaces, formatting mismatches and sort order.

7. Design for the next user

A workbook that only its author understands is not clever. It is fragile.

So, What Should a UK Excel User Actually Do Tomorrow Morning?

If you open a workbook and discover that XLOOKUP is returning only one result where several exist, do not panic and do not start randomly nesting functions like a person trying to escape a hedge maze.

Start with three questions.

Question 1: Should this value be unique?

If yes, fix the source data or add duplicate checks.

Question 2: Which result do I need?

Earliest? Use default XLOOKUP.
Latest? Use reverse XLOOKUP.
Every match? Use FILTER.

Question 3: Is the workbook doing too much with formulas?

If yes, consider Power Query, pivot tables or a redesign.

That approach is more valuable than memorising one flashy formula. It gives you a framework for making sensible choices, which is really what advanced spreadsheet work is about.

The Bigger Lesson: XLOOKUP Is Excellent, But Not Magical

XLOOKUP is one of the best things Microsoft has added to Excel in years. It is more flexible, clearer and safer than older lookup methods. For many tasks, it deserves its popularity.

But it is not a universal answer machine. When your data contains legitimate duplicates, asking XLOOKUP for one value is like asking a librarian for “the history book” and acting surprised when she hands you only one title.

The smarter move is to match the tool to the shape of the question.

If you need one answer, XLOOKUP is often ideal.

If you need the latest answer, reverse XLOOKUP is elegant.

If you need every answer, FILTER is usually the modern solution.

And if you keep running into repeated-record complexity, the real answer may lie beyond lookup formulas altogether.

That is the practical truth behind the question “what if XLOOKUP has multiple matches?” The formula is not broken. It is simply telling you that your worksheet has crossed from reference data into richer, messier, very real-world information.

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