diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippets.contribution.ts b/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippets.contribution.ts
index 097cc085a9f1b9a953ee17e92de0aea4a125ec64..db63d04deee772a8018b6dee5c61958af7e97d90 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippets.contribution.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippets.contribution.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ const languageScopeSchema: IJSONSchema = {
 		properties: {
 			prefix: {
 				description: nls.localize('snippetSchema.json.prefix', 'The prefix to used when selecting the snippet in intellisense'),
-				type: 'string'
+				type: ['string', 'array']
 			},
 			body: {
 				description: nls.localize('snippetSchema.json.body', 'The snippet content. Use \'$1\', \'${1:defaultText}\' to define cursor positions, use \'$0\' for the final cursor position. Insert variable values with \'${varName}\' and \'${varName:defaultText}\', e.g \'This is file: $TM_FILENAME\'.'),
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ const globalSchema: IJSONSchema = {
 		properties: {
 			prefix: {
 				description: nls.localize('snippetSchema.json.prefix', 'The prefix to used when selecting the snippet in intellisense'),
-				type: 'string'
+				type: ['string', 'array']
 			},
 			scope: {
 				description: nls.localize('snippetSchema.json.scope', "A list of language names to which this snippet applies, e.g 'typescript,javascript'."),
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippetsFile.ts b/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippetsFile.ts
index 61937bd275a175c856dfecd4f6d760f819382dba..5a99087e670cc36c2130917c94f10cb22353b11e 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippetsFile.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/parts/snippets/electron-browser/snippetsFile.ts
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ export class SnippetFile {
 			body = body.join('\n');
 		}
 
-		if (typeof prefix !== 'string' || typeof body !== 'string') {
+		if ((typeof prefix !== 'string' && !Array.isArray(prefix)) || typeof body !== 'string') {
 			return;
 		}
 
@@ -264,14 +264,17 @@ export class SnippetFile {
 			}
 		}
 
-		bucket.push(new Snippet(
-			scopes,
-			name,
-			prefix,
-			description,
-			body,
-			source,
-			this.source
-		));
+		let prefixes = Array.isArray(prefix) ? prefix : [prefix];
+		prefixes.forEach(p => {
+			bucket.push(new Snippet(
+				scopes,
+				name,
+				p,
+				description,
+				body,
+				source,
+				this.source
+			));
+		});
 	}
 }