diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c b/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c
index 56471e89..17c3580e 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c
@@ -695,6 +695,10 @@ static int IsLetterGroup(Translator *tr, char *word, int group, int pre)
 		return -1;
 
 	while (*p != RULE_GROUP_END) {
+		// If '~' (no character) is allowed in group, return 0.
+		if (*p == '~')
+			return 0;
+
 		if (pre) {
 			len = strlen(p);
 			w = word;
@@ -702,16 +706,12 @@ static int IsLetterGroup(Translator *tr, char *word, int group, int pre)
 			{
 				w--;
 				if (*w == 0)
-					// Not found
-					return -1;
+					// Not found, skip the rest of this group.
+					goto skip;
 			}
 		} else
 			w = word;
 
-		// If '~' (no character) is allowed in group, return 0.
-		if (*p == '~')
-			return 0;
-
 		//  Check current group
 		while ((*p == *w) && (*w != 0)) {
 			w++;
@@ -724,6 +724,7 @@ static int IsLetterGroup(Translator *tr, char *word, int group, int pre)
 		}
 
 		// No match, so skip the rest of this group.
+skip:
 		while (*p++ != 0)
 			;
 	}
diff --git a/tests/translate.test b/tests/translate.test
index 99520642..0a5155fd 100755
--- a/tests/translate.test
+++ b/tests/translate.test
@@ -105,3 +105,11 @@ test_phon cmn "ni35X'Au35_| m'A21_| (en)h@44loU11_| De@11(cmn)_|" "你好馬 hel
 test_phon cmn-latn-pinyin "ni35X'Au35_| m'A35_| n'i35_| X'Au35_| m'A214_|" "你好馬 ni3 hao3 ma3"
 
 test_phon cmn "thiE55nt'i51_|" "天地"
+
+# https://github.com/espeak-ng/espeak-ng/issues/1507
+test_phon ml "k'a
+t'a
+p'a
+k'e:r@l.@m
+t'a:m@ra
+p'o:le" "ക: ത: പ: കേരളം: താമര: പോലെ:"