diff --git a/modules/search.module b/modules/search.module
index 462e32f1c191ad05373e1f301374839eee35d431..e7faea16abd8abd2a900f19b7ec5566a6bd28973 100644
--- a/modules/search.module
+++ b/modules/search.module
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ function update_index($search_array) {
       // Remove "noisewords"
       $noise = explode(",", variable_get("noisewords", ""));
       foreach ($noise as $word) {
-        $wordlist = preg_replace("' $word '", " ", $wordlist);
+        $wordlist = str_replace(trim($word), " ", $wordlist);
       }
 
       // Remove whitespace
diff --git a/modules/search/search.module b/modules/search/search.module
index 462e32f1c191ad05373e1f301374839eee35d431..e7faea16abd8abd2a900f19b7ec5566a6bd28973 100644
--- a/modules/search/search.module
+++ b/modules/search/search.module
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ function update_index($search_array) {
       // Remove "noisewords"
       $noise = explode(",", variable_get("noisewords", ""));
       foreach ($noise as $word) {
-        $wordlist = preg_replace("' $word '", " ", $wordlist);
+        $wordlist = str_replace(trim($word), " ", $wordlist);
       }
 
       // Remove whitespace