How to make it obvious that autocomplete is not a dropdown

Let's say we have an autocomplete like this.

The autocomplete has thousands of possible results and so we only display the first 20 results. Some of the results are very similar. This leads to two problems:

  1. Users click in the input field, the dropdown opens and they don't understand that they could use the input to filter for more results.
  2. Users actually use the input to filter. Still they just see 20 out of e.g. 500 actual results.

I already thought about those solutions:

  • Load 20 more results when scrolling down. Similar to this autocomplete. I tried this, but still the users still did not get that they could use the input to filter.

  • Display a helptext at the end of the dropdown with some text which indicates that there are x more results but you have to filter for them. I also tried this, but the users did not know the exact term of the result, so they end up not finding the entry they are looking for.

I hoped for some best practice tips for those kinds of autocompletes, I have the feeling I am missing something crucial here.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT

To start back at the source - The autocomplete is part of a form which carries information about a company. The users are looking for business sectors which fit to the company. In this specific case for business sectors in the agriculture sector. Business sectors could be e.g:

  • Cultivation of rice
  • Cultivation of melons
  • ...
  • Keeping of milk cows
  • Cow Transport

Most of the time the users don't know a business area's exact name, so they e.g. just look for "cow" or "cultivation"

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