diff --git a/src/util/keyword.c b/src/util/keyword.c
index 9d5ba1e6a..f1a59f44a 100644
--- a/src/util/keyword.c
+++ b/src/util/keyword.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ keyword_t get_keyword(const char *s, const struct locale *lang) {
         char buffer[64];
         char *str = transliterate(buffer, sizeof(buffer) - sizeof(int), s);
 
-        if (str) {
+        if (str && str[0] && str[1]) {
             int i;
             void *match;
             void **tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_KEYWORDS);
diff --git a/src/util/param.c b/src/util/param.c
index 0c486ce5a..38a33d322 100644
--- a/src/util/param.c
+++ b/src/util/param.c
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ param_t findparam(const char *s, const struct locale * lang)
     char buffer[64];
     char * str = s ? transliterate(buffer, sizeof(buffer) - sizeof(int), s) : 0;
 
-    if (str && *str) {
+    if (str && str[0] && str[1]) {
         int i;
         void * match;
         void **tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_PARAMS);