diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 96a762be57484c71ea4d4f13ae76f1614bb313d5..022ee557b681fa565296124af989c321c14a93d5 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -1435,11 +1435,11 @@ sub process {
 			ERROR("\"(foo $1 )\" should be \"(foo $1)\"\n" .
 				$herecurr);
 
-		} elsif ($line =~ m{$NonptrType(\*+)(?:\s+(?:$Attribute|$Sparse))?\s+[A-Za-z\d_]+}) {
+		} elsif ($line =~ m{\b$NonptrType(\*+)(?:\s+(?:$Attribute|$Sparse))?\s+[A-Za-z\d_]+}) {
 			ERROR("\"foo$1 bar\" should be \"foo $1bar\"\n" .
 				$herecurr);
 
-		} elsif ($line =~ m{$NonptrType\s+(\*+)(?!\s+(?:$Attribute|$Sparse))\s+[A-Za-z\d_]+}) {
+		} elsif ($line =~ m{\b$NonptrType\s+(\*+)(?!\s+(?:$Attribute|$Sparse))\s+[A-Za-z\d_]+}) {
 			ERROR("\"foo $1 bar\" should be \"foo $1bar\"\n" .
 				$herecurr);
 		}