Is your file sorted in any way?

If so then you can start in the middle and only compare in one direction.
For example :
if the word was monkey
you would compare the string to the middle string of your array
if it was less than then search backward from the middle of the file if not then search forward.

Also you can terminate your loop once a match is found.

Just suggestions

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Boothman
There is a war out there and it is about who controls the information, it's all about the information.