A computing device is operatively coupled to a presence-sensitive surface associated with a virtual keyboard. The computing device receives an indication of a gesture input on a portion of the presence-sensitive surface associated with the virtual keyboard. In response, the computing device defines a series of input points that represent a path of the gesture input across the virtual keyboard. In addition, the computing device defines anchor points for virtual keys of the virtual keyboard. The computing device then determines distance scores for the anchor points words based on distances on the presence-sensitive surface between the input points and the anchor points. The computing device identifies a word that corresponds to the gesture input based on the distance scores for the anchor points.