diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext.ts b/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext.ts
index c36dddd74..76ea032b5 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext.ts
@@ -113,7 +113,19 @@ class NoteContentFulltextExp extends Expression {
                 const normalizedFlatText = normalizeSearchText(flatText);
 
                 // Check if =phrase appears in flatText (indicates attribute value match)
-                matches = normalizedFlatText.includes(`=${normalizedPhrase}`);
+                // For single words, use word-boundary matching to avoid substring matches
+                if (!normalizedPhrase.includes(' ')) {
+                    // Single word: look for =word with word boundaries
+                    // Split by = to get attribute values, then check each value for exact word match
+                    const parts = normalizedFlatText.split('=');
+                    matches = parts.slice(1).some(part => {
+                        const words = part.split(/\s+/);
+                        return words.some(word => word === normalizedPhrase);
+                    });
+                } else {
+                    // Multi-word phrase: check for substring match
+                    matches = normalizedFlatText.includes(`=${normalizedPhrase}`);
+                }
 
                 if ((this.operator === "=" && matches) || (this.operator === "!=" && !matches)) {
                     resultNoteSet.add(noteFromBecca);
@@ -155,7 +167,15 @@ class NoteContentFulltextExp extends Expression {
         // Join tokens with single space to form the phrase
         const phrase = normalizedTokens.join(" ");
 
-        // Check if the phrase appears as a substring (consecutive words)
+        // For single-word phrases, use word-boundary matching to avoid substring matches
+        // e.g., "asd" should not match "asdfasdf"
+        if (!phrase.includes(' ')) {
+            // Single word: split into words and check for exact match
+            const words = normalizedContent.split(/\s+/);
+            return words.some(word => word === phrase);
+        }
+
+        // For multi-word phrases, check if the phrase appears as consecutive words
         if (normalizedContent.includes(phrase)) {
             return true;
         }