ctrl+W <word> enter - seems you are right :D <3 nano hahah
i find more complicated editors just distract with their fancies from what you are doing. inputting and deleting characters.
What I do like about the vim keys though is the ability to delete or copy/paste with precision by chaining hotkeys together.
Regarding your searching for a word example, unsurprisingly you can do the same in vi (let alone vim) too:
/ - search forwards
? - search backwards