matching words and serial numbers

I have a word in cell B1 (example "apple"), and a list of many miscellaneous words in column D (including the word "apple"), and serial numbers in column C that are affiliated with each specific word in column D, (example "apple" has a serial number "URP548"). I wish to put a formula in cell A1 that will look at the word in cell B1, and then in column C to select the affiliated serial number that goes with the word "apple" (or whatever the word may be). I have attempted some different formulas found in the forum, and believe I'm close but have yet to break the code. Can you help with a formula that would work in this case? Regards, Gary

Try VLOOKUP formula

Something like:

=VLOOKUP(B1, $C$1:$D$1000, 2, FALSE)

You need to employ the classic Excel tool =vlookup. You will have to re-arrange your table a bit for it to work. First, here is a link to the syntax and explanation on how it works. Then you will need to switch column D and column C to make this work.

http://www.techonthenet.com/excel/formulas/vlookup.php

Alan