diff --git a/modules/activiti-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/AbstractQuery.java b/modules/activiti-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/AbstractQuery.java
index 24c1bd65d215437b2ede074a358c58c33642698d..74695f0c70d7dc6bf0acf9fad4e38d2e6ea9e455 100644
--- a/modules/activiti-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/AbstractQuery.java
+++ b/modules/activiti-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/AbstractQuery.java
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractQuery<T extends Query<?,?>, U> extends ListQueryPa
   					|| ProcessEngineConfigurationImpl.DATABASE_TYPE_ORACLE.equals(databaseType)) {
   				orderBy = orderBy + column + " "+sortOrder + " NULLS LAST";
   			} else if (ProcessEngineConfigurationImpl.DATABASE_TYPE_MYSQL.equals(databaseType)) {
-    			orderBy = orderBy + "order by isnull(" + column +") asc," + defaultOrderByClause;
+    			orderBy = orderBy + "isnull(" + column +") asc," + defaultOrderByClause;
     		} else if (ProcessEngineConfigurationImpl.DATABASE_TYPE_DB2.equals(databaseType)
     				|| ProcessEngineConfigurationImpl.DATABASE_TYPE_MSSQL.equals(databaseType)) {
     			orderBy = orderBy + "case when " + column + " is null then 0 else 1 end," + defaultOrderByClause;