diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/capa/display.coffee b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/capa/display.coffee
index 63e04b8505..3c1d972d11 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/capa/display.coffee
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/capa/display.coffee
@@ -341,7 +341,8 @@ class @Problem
     replace_escape_keyword = (match) -> 
       return '"' + match + '"' # Force MathJax plain text
     for escape_keyword in escape_keywords
-      eqn = eqn.replace(escape_keyword, replace_escape_keyword)
+      escape_keyword_patt = RegExp('\\b'+escape_keyword+'\\b')
+      eqn = eqn.replace(escape_keyword_patt, replace_escape_keyword)
 
     return eqn