diff --git a/src/plugins/texteditor/texteditor.cpp b/src/plugins/texteditor/texteditor.cpp
index 054e65193f4..3256ee91b79 100644
--- a/src/plugins/texteditor/texteditor.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/texteditor/texteditor.cpp
@@ -4154,10 +4154,17 @@ void TextEditorWidgetPrivate::highlightSearchResults(const QTextBlock &block, co
         l = match.capturedLength();
         if (l == 0)
             break;
-        if ((m_findFlags & FindWholeWords)
-            && ((idx && text.at(idx-1).isLetterOrNumber())
-                || (idx + l < text.length() && text.at(idx + l).isLetterOrNumber())))
-            continue;
+        if (m_findFlags & FindWholeWords) {
+            auto posAtWordSeparator = [](const QString &text, int idx) {
+                if (idx < 0 || idx >= text.length())
+                    return false;
+                const QChar c = text.at(idx);
+                return !c.isLetterOrNumber() && c != QLatin1Char('_');
+            };
+            if (!posAtWordSeparator(text, idx - 1) || !posAtWordSeparator(text, idx + l))
+                continue;
+        }
+
 
         const int start = blockPosition + idx;
         const int end = start + l;