diff --git a/src/collective/dms/thesaurus/browser/thesaurusview.py b/src/collective/dms/thesaurus/browser/thesaurusview.py
index 1ddd386..2c30b9b 100644
--- a/src/collective/dms/thesaurus/browser/thesaurusview.py
+++ b/src/collective/dms/thesaurus/browser/thesaurusview.py
@@ -134,9 +134,7 @@ class ListKeywordsView(BrowserView):
         other = []
         q = query_string.lower()
         regex = re.compile(r"[\s'()]")
-        q_words = regex.split(q)
         items = self.getItems(query_string)
-        done = {}
         for normalized, title, id in items:
             count_start = 0
             count_in = 0
@@ -148,7 +146,9 @@ class ListKeywordsView(BrowserView):
                         count_in += 1
 
             item = '%s|%s' % (title, id)
-            if count_start == len(query_terms):
+            if len(query_terms) == 1 and normalized.startswith(query_terms[0]):
+                absolute_startswith.append((normalized, item))
+            elif len(query_terms) > 1 and count_start == len(query_terms):
                 absolute_startswith.append((normalized, item))
             elif count_start >= 1:
                 startswith.append((normalized, item))