diff --git a/include/search_idx.php b/include/search_idx.php
index caad0dd..da15707 100644
--- a/include/search_idx.php
+++ b/include/search_idx.php
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ function validate_search_word($word, $idx)
 	if (is_keyword($word))
 		return !$idx;

+	// Exclude any % * when checking current word
+	$word = str_replace(array('%', '*'), '', $word);
+
 	if (!isset($stopwords))
 	{
 		if (file_exists(FORUM_CACHE_DIR.'cache_stopwords.php'))