Sort ArrayList of strings by length

Use a custom comparator:

public class MyComparator implements java.util.Comparator<String> {

    private int referenceLength;

    public MyComparator(String reference) {
        super();
        this.referenceLength = reference.length();
    }

    public int compare(String s1, String s2) {
        int dist1 = Math.abs(s1.length() - referenceLength);
        int dist2 = Math.abs(s2.length() - referenceLength);

        return dist1 - dist2;
    }
}

Then sort the list using java.util.Collections.sort(List, Comparator).

If you're using Java 8+ you can use a lambda expression to implement (@Barend's answer as) the comparator

List<String> strings = Arrays.asList(new String[] {"cucumber","aeronomical","bacon","tea","telescopic","fantasmagorical"});
strings.sort((s1, s2) -> Math.abs(s1.length() - "intelligent".length()) - Math.abs(s2.length() - "intelligent".length()));