diff --git a/src/utils/str.py b/src/utils/str.py
index 56e3aaebb..66d52bd6b 100644
--- a/src/utils/str.py
+++ b/src/utils/str.py
@@ -220,11 +220,20 @@ def perlVariableSubstitute(vars, text):
 
 def multipleReplacer(dict_):
     """Return a function that replaces all dict keys by the associated
-    value."""
+    value. More efficient than multiple .replace()."""
     dict_ = {re.escape(key): val for key,val in dict_.items()}
     matcher = re.compile('|'.join(dict_.keys()))
     return lambda x:matcher.sub(lambda m: dict_[m.group(0)], x)
 
+def multipleRemover(list_):
+    """Return a function that removes all words in the list. A bit more
+    efficient than multipleReplacer"""
+    list_ = [re.escape(x) for x in list_]
+    matcher = re.compile('|'.join(list_))
+    return lambda x:matcher.sub(lambda m: '', x)
+
+
+
 def commaAndify(seq, comma=',', And='and'):
     """Given a a sequence, returns an English clause for that sequence.
 
diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 5baa35fcf..627ba0761 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -309,10 +309,14 @@ class StrTest(SupyTestCase):
         f = PRTR('s/^/foo/')
         self.assertEqual(f('bar'), 'foobar')
 
-    def testmultipleReplacer(self):
+    def testMultipleReplacer(self):
         replacer = utils.str.multipleReplacer({'foo': 'bar', 'a': 'b'})
         self.assertEqual(replacer('hi foo hi'), 'hi bar hi')
 
+    def testMultipleRemover(self):
+        remover = utils.str.multipleRemover(['foo', 'bar'])
+        self.assertEqual(remover('testfoobarbaz'), 'testbaz')
+
     def testPReToReplacerDifferentSeparator(self):
         f = utils.str.perlReToReplacer('s#foo#bar#')
         self.assertEqual(f('foobarbaz'), 'barbarbaz')