Replace Function with Wildcards?

Hello,

Is it possible to use the replace function with wildcard characters?

For instance, I want to replace instances of

thisString thisWildPhrase thisStringEnd

with

thisNewString thisWildPhrase thisStringEnd

My guess is that there's a way to do this, but I'm not figuring out the
syntax. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

--
Randy Jackson
http://fourcolorexplosion.com