diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index aca5a8cf0a..d12340e58d 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ Sun Sep  7 07:24:09 2008  Yukihiro Matsumoto  <matz@ruby-lang.org>
 	* misc/ruby-mode.el: don't crash the whole mode if the Subversion
 	  $ keyword isn't interpolated.
 
+	* misc/ruby-mode.el: don't highlight keywords when they're the
+	  beginning of non-keyword symbols.
+
 Sun Sep  7 06:31:51 2008  Yukihiro Matsumoto  <matz@ruby-lang.org>
 
 	* file.c (file_expand_path): applied a patch from Nobuhiro Tachino
diff --git a/misc/ruby-mode.el b/misc/ruby-mode.el
index e37cc4eab8..996df17f53 100644
--- a/misc/ruby-mode.el
+++ b/misc/ruby-mode.el
@@ -1236,9 +1236,8 @@ buffer position `limit' or the end of the buffer."
        1 font-lock-function-name-face)
      ;; keywords
      (cons (concat
-	    "\\(^\\|[^_:.@$]\\|\\.\\.\\)\\b\\(defined\\?\\|\\("
-	    (mapconcat
-	     'identity
+	    "\\(^\\|[^_:.@$]\\|\\.\\.\\)\\b\\(defined\\?\\|"
+	    (regexp-opt
 	     '("alias"
 	       "and"
 	       "begin"
@@ -1275,8 +1274,8 @@ buffer position `limit' or the end of the buffer."
 	       "while"
 	       "yield"
 	       )
-	     "\\|")
-	    "\\)\\>\\)")
+             t)
+	    "\\_>\\)")
 	   2)
      ;; here-doc beginnings
      (list ruby-here-doc-beg-re 0 'font-lock-string-face)