diff --git a/src/languages/magik.js b/src/languages/magik.js
index c76c5690e..1b3ca0cfe 100644
--- a/src/languages/magik.js
+++ b/src/languages/magik.js
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ export default {
 
 		'variable': [
 			/\|[\w?!]+\|/, // variable encased like |var|, |0|, |123|
-			{ pattern: /(^|[^.])\b[a-z]\w*\b/i, lookbehind: true },
+			{ pattern: /(^|[^.])[a-z][\w?!]*/i, lookbehind: true },
 		],
 	},
 };
diff --git a/tests/languages/magik/variable_feature.test b/tests/languages/magik/variable_feature.test
index 92f64afc7..aff89352b 100644
--- a/tests/languages/magik/variable_feature.test
+++ b/tests/languages/magik/variable_feature.test
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 a_name
 anotherName
 some_var
+int!okay
+ok?
 |0|
 |123|
 |a|
@@ -14,6 +16,8 @@ coords3d_rope.new_with(coordinate3d.new(0, 0, 0), coordinate3d.new(10, 10, 10))
 	["variable", "a_name"],
 	["variable", "anotherName"],
 	["variable", "some_var"],
+	["variable", "int!okay"],
+	["variable", "ok?"],
 	["variable", "|0|"],
 	["variable", "|123|"],
 	["variable", "|a|"],