You could use a macro like:
Code:
Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim i As Long
With ActiveDocument.Range
With .Find
.ClearFormatting
.Replacement.ClearFormatting
.Text = "<word1>?{1,10}<word2>"
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Format = False
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.MatchWildcards = True
.Execute
End With
Do While .Find.Found
i = i + 1
.Collapse wdCollapseEnd
.Find.Execute
Loop
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
MsgBox i & " instances found."
End Sub
where 'word1' & 'word2' are the two words and the '1' & '10' in ?{1,10} represents the minimum and maximum intervening characters, respectively. Note that the test is case-sensitive, though there are ways around that and, as coded, only whole words are found, though there are ways around that, too.