diff --git a/internal_packages/composer/lib/contenteditable-component.cjsx b/internal_packages/composer/lib/contenteditable-component.cjsx
index fe1f52d03..5db6103d3 100644
--- a/internal_packages/composer/lib/contenteditable-component.cjsx
+++ b/internal_packages/composer/lib/contenteditable-component.cjsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ _ = require 'underscore'
 React = require 'react'
 classNames = require 'classnames'
 sanitizeHtml = require 'sanitize-html'
-{Utils, QuotedHTMLParser, DraftStore} = require 'nylas-exports'
+{DOMUtils, Utils, QuotedHTMLParser, DraftStore} = require 'nylas-exports'
 FloatingToolbar = require './floating-toolbar'
 
 linkUUID = 0
@@ -627,6 +627,13 @@ class ContenteditableComponent extends React.Component
 
     selection = document.getSelection()
     range = selection.getRangeAt(0)
+
+    # On Windows, right-clicking a word does not select it at the OS-level.
+    # We need to implement this behavior locally for the rest of the logic here.
+    if range.collapsed
+      DOMUtils.selectWordContainingRange(range)
+      range = selection.getRangeAt(0)
+
     text = range.toString()
 
     remote = require('remote')
diff --git a/src/dom-utils.coffee b/src/dom-utils.coffee
index b5da06b8a..55bd8b720 100644
--- a/src/dom-utils.coffee
+++ b/src/dom-utils.coffee
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 _ = require 'underscore'
+_s = require 'underscore.string'
 
 DOMUtils =
 
@@ -85,6 +86,29 @@ DOMUtils =
     nodes.unshift(node) while node = node.parentNode
     return nodes
 
+  # This method finds the bounding points of the word that the range
+  # is currently within and selects that word.
+  selectWordContainingRange: (range) ->
+    selection = document.getSelection()
+    node = selection.focusNode
+    text = node.textContent
+    wordStart = _s.reverse(text.substring(0, selection.focusOffset)).search(/\s/)
+    if wordStart is -1
+      wordStart = 0
+    else
+      wordStart = selection.focusOffset - wordStart
+    wordEnd = text.substring(selection.focusOffset).search(/\s/)
+    if wordEnd is -1
+      wordEnd = text.length
+    else
+      wordEnd += selection.focusOffset
+
+    selection.removeAllRanges()
+    range = new Range()
+    range.setStart(node, wordStart)
+    range.setEnd(node, wordEnd)
+    selection.addRange(range)
+
   commonAncestor: (nodes=[]) ->
     nodes = Array::slice.call(nodes)