diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanExpansionQuery.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanExpansionQuery.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33c5b5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanExpansionQuery.java
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.query;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.apache.lucene.index.AtomicReaderContext;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.TermContext;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanQuery;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.Spans;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.Bits;
+
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.spans.ExpandedSpans;
+
+/** Query to make a span longer by stretching out the start or 
+ * 	the end position of the span.
+ * 
+ * 	@author margaretha
+ * */
+public class SpanExpansionQuery extends SimpleSpanQuery{
+
+	int min, max;
+	boolean isBefore;
+	
+	public SpanExpansionQuery(SpanQuery firstClause, int min, int max,  
+			boolean isBefore, boolean collectPayloads) {		
+		super(firstClause, collectPayloads);
+		this.min = min;
+		this.max = max;
+		this.isBefore = isBefore;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public SimpleSpanQuery clone() {
+		SpanExpansionQuery sq = new SpanExpansionQuery(
+				firstClause, 
+				min, 
+				max, 
+				isBefore,
+				collectPayloads);
+		//sq.setBoost(sq.getBoost());
+		return sq;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public Spans getSpans(AtomicReaderContext context, Bits acceptDocs,
+			Map<Term, TermContext> termContexts) throws IOException {
+		return new ExpandedSpans(this, context, acceptDocs, termContexts);
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public String toString(String field) {
+		StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+		sb.append("spanExpansion(");
+		sb.append(firstClause.toString());
+		sb.append(",[");
+		sb.append(min);
+		sb.append(",");
+		sb.append(max);
+		sb.append("],");		
+		if (isBefore)
+			sb.append("left)");
+		else sb.append("right)");
+		return sb.toString();
+	}
+
+	public int getMin() {
+		return min;
+	}
+
+	public void setMin(int min) {
+		this.min = min;
+	}
+
+	public int getMax() {
+		return max;
+	}
+
+	public void setMax(int max) {
+		this.max = max;
+	}
+
+	public boolean isBefore() {
+		return isBefore;
+	}
+
+	public void setBefore(boolean isBefore) {
+		this.isBefore = isBefore;
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/spans/ExpandedSpans.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/spans/ExpandedSpans.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29c2d14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/spans/ExpandedSpans.java
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.spans;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.apache.lucene.index.AtomicReaderContext;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.TermContext;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.Bits;
+
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.SpanExpansionQuery;
+
+public class ExpandedSpans extends SimpleSpans{
+	
+	private int min, max;
+	private boolean isBefore;	
+	private List<CandidateSpan> candidateSpans;
+	private long matchCost;
+	
+	public ExpandedSpans(SpanExpansionQuery spanExpansionQuery,
+			AtomicReaderContext context, Bits acceptDocs,
+			Map<Term, TermContext> termContexts) throws IOException {
+		super(spanExpansionQuery, context, acceptDocs, termContexts);
+		this.min = spanExpansionQuery.getMin();
+		this.max = spanExpansionQuery.getMax();
+		this.isBefore = spanExpansionQuery.isBefore();
+		
+		candidateSpans = new ArrayList<CandidateSpan>();		
+		hasMoreSpans = true;		
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public boolean next() throws IOException {
+		matchPayload.clear();
+		isStartEnumeration = false;
+		return advance();
+	}
+
+	private boolean advance() throws IOException {		
+		while (hasMoreSpans || candidateSpans.size() > 0) {
+			if (candidateSpans.size() > 0 ){
+				setMatch(candidateSpans.get(0));
+				candidateSpans.remove(0);
+				return true;
+			}
+			else {
+				hasMoreSpans = firstSpans.next();
+				setCandidateList();
+			}
+		}		
+		return false;
+	}
+	
+	private void setCandidateList() throws IOException {
+		CandidateSpan cs;
+		int counter;
+		if (isBefore){
+			counter = max;
+			while (counter >= min ){
+				cs = new CandidateSpan(
+						firstSpans.start() - counter, 
+						firstSpans.end(), 
+						firstSpans.doc(), 
+						firstSpans.cost(), 
+						firstSpans.getPayload()
+				);
+				candidateSpans.add(cs);
+				counter--;
+			}
+		}
+		else{
+			counter = min;
+			while (counter <= max){
+				cs = new CandidateSpan(
+						firstSpans.start(), 
+						firstSpans.end() + counter, 
+						firstSpans.doc(), 
+						firstSpans.cost(), 
+						firstSpans.getPayload()
+				);
+				candidateSpans.add(cs);
+				counter++;
+			}
+		}	
+	}
+
+	private void setMatch(CandidateSpan candidateSpan) {
+		matchDocNumber = candidateSpan.getDoc();
+		matchStartPosition = candidateSpan.getStart();
+		matchEndPosition = candidateSpan.getEnd();			
+		matchPayload = candidateSpan.getPayloads();
+		matchCost = candidateSpan.getCost();
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public boolean skipTo(int target) throws IOException {
+		if (hasMoreSpans && (firstSpans.doc() < target)){
+  			if (!firstSpans.skipTo(target)){
+  				hasMoreSpans = false;
+  				return false;
+  			}
+  		} 		
+  		matchPayload.clear();
+  		return advance();
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public long cost() {
+		return matchCost;
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/index/TestSpanExpansionIndex.java b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/index/TestSpanExpansionIndex.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d81878b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/index/TestSpanExpansionIndex.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.index;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanTermQuery;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.KorapIndex;
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.KorapMatch;
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.KorapResult;
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.SpanExpansionQuery;
+
+public class TestSpanExpansionIndex {
+
+	KorapResult kr;
+    KorapIndex ki;
+    
+	@Test
+	public void testCase1() throws IOException {
+		ki = new KorapIndex();
+		for (String i : new String[] {"AAA-12402"}) {
+		    ki.addDocFile(
+		        getClass().getResource("/wiki/" + i + ".json.gz").getFile(),true);
+		};
+		ki.commit();
+		
+		SpanTermQuery stq = new SpanTermQuery(new Term("tokens","s:Kaiser")	);
+		SpanExpansionQuery seq = new SpanExpansionQuery(stq, 0, 2, true, true);		
+		kr = ki.search(seq, (short) 10);
+		
+		assertEquals(72,kr.getTotalResults());
+		assertEquals(5, kr.getMatch(0).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(8, kr.getMatch(0).getEndPos());
+        assertEquals(6, kr.getMatch(1).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(8, kr.getMatch(1).getEndPos());
+        assertEquals(7, kr.getMatch(2).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(8, kr.getMatch(2).getEndPos());
+        
+        seq = new SpanExpansionQuery(stq, 3, 4, false, true);
+        kr = ki.search(seq, (short) 10);
+        
+        assertEquals(7, kr.getMatch(0).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(11, kr.getMatch(0).getEndPos());
+        assertEquals(7, kr.getMatch(1).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(12, kr.getMatch(1).getEndPos());
+        assertEquals(15, kr.getMatch(2).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(19, kr.getMatch(2).getEndPos());
+        assertEquals(15, kr.getMatch(3).getStartPos());
+        assertEquals(20, kr.getMatch(3).getEndPos());
+        
+//		for (KorapMatch km : kr.getMatches()){
+//			System.out.println(km.getStartPos() +","+km.getEndPos()+" "
+//					+km.getSnippetBrackets());
+//		}	
+		
+	}
+}