You can't find 'ALEX' in your first data set because you are searching for keys, and 'ALEX' is a value. In your second data set, 'ALEX' is indeed a key. This is why i like to write my hashes out like so:

my %WORD = (
   'AALIYAH'  => 'AARON', 
   'ABBE'     => 'ABBEY',
   'ABBI'     => 'ABBIE',
   'ABBIGAIL' => 'ALEX',
);
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so i can easily see which are the keys and which are the values. So, to answer your question - you need to decide whether or not 'ALEX' should be a key or value and search the keys or the values accordingly.

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)