diff --git a/src/nvim/fuzzy.c b/src/nvim/fuzzy.c
index 4d7f6a08e0..e9dd67e732 100644
--- a/src/nvim/fuzzy.c
+++ b/src/nvim/fuzzy.c
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ bool fuzzy_match(char *const str, const char *const pat_arg, const bool matchseq
 {
   bool complete = false;
   int numMatches = 0;
+  int pat_chars = 0;
 
   *outScore = 0;
 
@@ -104,6 +105,17 @@ bool fuzzy_match(char *const str, const char *const pat_arg, const bool matchseq
       }
       *p = NUL;
     }
+    // match_positions() always writes pat_chars entries,
+    // so bail if they won't fit.
+    pat_chars = mb_charlen(pat);
+    if (pat_chars > maxMatches) {
+      pat_chars = maxMatches;
+    }
+    if (numMatches > maxMatches - pat_chars) {
+      numMatches = 0;
+      *outScore = FUZZY_SCORE_NONE;
+      break;
+    }
 
     int score = FUZZY_SCORE_NONE;
     if (has_match(pat, str)) {
@@ -131,7 +143,7 @@ bool fuzzy_match(char *const str, const char *const pat_arg, const bool matchseq
       *outScore += score;
     }
 
-    numMatches += mb_charlen(pat);
+    numMatches += pat_chars;
 
     if (complete || numMatches >= maxMatches) {
       break;
diff --git a/test/old/testdir/test_matchfuzzy.vim b/test/old/testdir/test_matchfuzzy.vim
index 127087175f..76f664d691 100644
--- a/test/old/testdir/test_matchfuzzy.vim
+++ b/test/old/testdir/test_matchfuzzy.vim
@@ -333,4 +333,13 @@ func Test_matchfuzzy_initialized()
   call StopVimInTerminal(buf)
 endfunc
 
+func Test_matchfuzzy_long_multiword_no_overflow()
+  let word = repeat('a', 100)
+  let pat_ok = repeat(word . ' ', 9) . word
+  call assert_equal([word], matchfuzzy([word], pat_ok))
+
+  let pat_overflow = repeat(word . ' ', 14) . word
+  call assert_equal([[], [], []], matchfuzzypos([word], pat_overflow))
+endfunc
+
 " vim: shiftwidth=2 sts=2 expandtab