Coming from Eclipse I used to use the Find Next functionality (cmd+k in my Eclipse IDE) to do a very quick search and replace because after you've selected text and moved to the next instance it is retained in memory even if the cursor's selection is blank, whereas vsCode will automatically expand the selection to the adjacent word if the selection is blank. I know that can be accomplished with find and replace but was looking for a similar short cut to provide the following.
E.g - Copy some text into the clipboard. - Navigate and highlight target text you wish to replace. - Use Find Next to navigate to next instance. - Paste the clipboard over the selection, leaving the cursor at the end of the word and without selection. - Use Find Next (cmd+k in my IDE) to navigate to next instance of the target text. - Repeat as necessary, sometimes just using Find Next without replacing.