diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/ganjoor/android/data/Dictionary.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/ganjoor/android/data/Dictionary.kt
index 4e0e963..d4d5284 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/ganjoor/android/data/Dictionary.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/ganjoor/android/data/Dictionary.kt
@@ -279,4 +279,23 @@ internal fun wordRangeAt(text: String, index: Int): IntRange? {
     return (start..end).takeIf { end - start + 1 > 1 }
 }
 
-private fun Char.isWordChar() = this in '؀'..'ۿ' || this == ZWNJ
+/**
+ * Letters, the marks that sit on them, and the joiner — but not the punctuation a line of verse
+ * is pointed with, nor its digits.
+ *
+ * The Arabic block holds far more than letters: the comma ، the semicolon ؛ the question mark ؟
+ * the full stop ۔ and both sets of Indic digits all live inside it. Spanning the whole block swept
+ * them into the word, so tapping دستم in «ز دستم، صاحب‌دلان» looked up «دستم،», which no dictionary
+ * carries and no near-word search rescues.
+ *
+ * Harakat stay in: they sit *inside* a word — منِ is one word — and normalise() strips them before
+ * the lookup anyway. Tatweel stays for the same reason, stretching a letter without breaking it.
+ */
+private fun Char.isWordChar() =
+    this == ZWNJ || (this in '؀'..'ۿ' && category in WORD_CATEGORIES)
+
+private val WORD_CATEGORIES = setOf(
+    CharCategory.OTHER_LETTER,      // the letters themselves
+    CharCategory.NON_SPACING_MARK,  // harakat, which sit on a letter
+    CharCategory.MODIFIER_LETTER,   // tatweel, which stretches one
+)
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/com/ganjoor/android/DictionaryTest.kt b/app/src/test/java/com/ganjoor/android/DictionaryTest.kt
index 8f7f09f..f52c556 100644
--- a/app/src/test/java/com/ganjoor/android/DictionaryTest.kt
+++ b/app/src/test/java/com/ganjoor/android/DictionaryTest.kt
@@ -134,4 +134,35 @@ class LetterOverlapTest {
     fun `an empty word never matches`() {
         assertEquals(0f, letterOverlap("", "عشق"), 0.001f)
     }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `an arabic comma is not part of the word before it`() {
+        val line = "دل می‌رود ز دستم، صاحب‌دلان خدا را"
+        assertEquals("دستم", wordAt(line, line.indexOf("دستم") + 1))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a question mark is not part of the word before it`() {
+        val line = "صلاح کار کجا و من خراب کجا؟"
+        assertEquals("کجا", wordAt(line, line.lastIndexOf("کجا") + 1))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a full stop and a semicolon do not join the word`() {
+        assertEquals("یافت", wordAt("نخواهی یافت۔", 8))
+        assertEquals("برخیز", wordAt("شرطه برخیز؛ باد", 7))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `digits are not part of a word`() {
+        assertEquals("غزل", wordAt("غزل۳", 1))
+        assertEquals("غزل", wordAt("غزل١٢", 1))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `harakat keep a word whole`() {
+        // منِ is one word: the kasra sits inside it, and normalise strips it before the lookup.
+        val line = "و منِ خراب"
+        assertEquals("منِ", wordAt(line, line.indexOf("من") + 1))
+    }
 }