diff --git a/wordfilter.module b/wordfilter.module
index 3edcd33..ddb4b7e 100644
--- a/wordfilter.module
+++ b/wordfilter.module
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ function wordfilter_filter_process($text) {
       $replacement = ($word->replacement) ? $word->replacement : variable_get('wordfilter_default_replacement', '[filtered word]');
 
       if ($word->standalone) {
-        $pattern = '/(\W)' . preg_quote($word->words, '/') . '(\W)/i';
+        $pattern = '/(\W|^)' . preg_quote($word->words, '/') . '(\W|$)/i';
       }
       else {
         $pattern = '/' . preg_quote($word->words, '/') . '/i';