diff --git a/assets/js/cell/live_editor/elixir/monarch_language.js b/assets/js/cell/live_editor/elixir/monarch_language.js
index 56f32ae27..22943596b 100644
--- a/assets/js/cell/live_editor/elixir/monarch_language.js
+++ b/assets/js/cell/live_editor/elixir/monarch_language.js
@@ -192,7 +192,15 @@ const ElixirMonarchLanguage = {
       [
         // In-scope call - an identifier followed by ( or .(
         /(@variableName)(?=\s*\.?\s*\()/,
-        ["function.call"],
+        {
+          cases: {
+            // Tokenize as keyword in cases like `if(..., do: ..., else: ...)`
+            "@declarationKeywords": "keyword.declaration",
+            "@namespaceKeywords": "keyword",
+            "@otherKeywords": "keyword",
+            "@default": "function.call"
+          }
+        },
       ],
       [
         // Referencing function in a module
diff --git a/assets/js/cell/live_editor/monaco.js b/assets/js/cell/live_editor/monaco.js
index 8f3d3a1ac..9debf2b71 100644
--- a/assets/js/cell/live_editor/monaco.js
+++ b/assets/js/cell/live_editor/monaco.js
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ monaco.editor.defineTheme("custom", {
   inherit: false,
   rules: [
     { token: "", foreground: "#abb2bf" },
-    { token: "variable", foreground: "#abb2bf" },
+    { token: "variable", foreground: "#e06c75" },
     { token: "constant", foreground: "#61afef" },
     { token: "constant.character.escape", foreground: "#61afef" },
     { token: "comment", foreground: "#5c6370" },