Hi Steve,

the following would search for pairs of slashes,
checks whether there are 3 or fewer characters
between the slashes, and if so,
checks whether there is at least one of the characters
included in the search pattern
.Text = "[lyz]{1,}"
in the found range, and if so,
formats the first word there bold.

You may have to do some error checking in addition.

Sub test10b()
Dim rDcm As Range
Dim rTmp As Range
Dim lEnd As Long ' end position
Set rDcm = ActiveDocument.Range
Set rTmp = ActiveDocument.Range

With rDcm.Find
  .Text = "/*/"
  .MatchWildcards = True
  While .Execute
     lEnd = rDcm.End
     rDcm.Start = rDcm.Start + 1
     rDcm.End = rDcm.End - 1
     ' for testing in single step mode only [F8]
     rDcm.Select ' delete after testing
     If Len(rDcm) < 4 Then
        rTmp.Start = rDcm.Start
        rTmp.End = rDcm.End
        With rTmp.Find
           .Text = "[lyz]{1,}"
           .MatchWildcards = True
           If .Execute Then
              rTmp.Words(1).Font.Bold = True
           End If
        End With
     End If
     rDcm.Start = lEnd + 1
     rDcm.End = ActiveDocument.Range.End
  Wend
End With
End Sub

HTH