diff --git a/src/js/misc.js b/src/js/misc.js
index 4063d0dcd..db5f35119 100644
--- a/src/js/misc.js
+++ b/src/js/misc.js
@@ -649,6 +649,10 @@ export function remove_non_ascii(str) {
   return str.replace(/[^\x20-\x7E]/g, "");
 }
 
+export function escapeRegExp(str) {
+  return str.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&");
+}
+
 export function cleanTypographySymbols(textToClean) {
   var specials = {
     "“": '"', // “	“
diff --git a/src/js/popups/word-filter-popup.js b/src/js/popups/word-filter-popup.js
index 7a3c70c0f..79cb583d6 100644
--- a/src/js/popups/word-filter-popup.js
+++ b/src/js/popups/word-filter-popup.js
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ function hide() {
 
 async function filter(language) {
   let filterin = $("#wordFilterPopup .wordIncludeInput").val();
-  filterin = filterin.trim();
-  filterin = filterin.replace(/ /gi, "|");
+  filterin = Misc.escapeRegExp(filterin.trim());
+  filterin = filterin.replace(/\s+/gi, "|");
   let regincl = new RegExp(filterin, "i");
   let filterout = $("#wordFilterPopup .wordExcludeInput").val();
-  filterout = filterout.trim();
-  filterout = filterout.replace(/ /gi, "|");
+  filterout = Misc.escapeRegExp(filterout.trim());
+  filterout = filterout.replace(/\s+/gi, "|");
   let regexcl = new RegExp(filterout, "i");
   let filteredWords = [];
   let languageWordList = await Misc.getLanguage(language);