diff --git a/synapse/storage/databases/main/user_directory.py b/synapse/storage/databases/main/user_directory.py
index 0513e7dc06e..3cc5eb6581c 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/databases/main/user_directory.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/databases/main/user_directory.py
@@ -1281,7 +1281,7 @@ def _parse_words_with_regex(search_term: str) -> List[str]:
     Break down search term into words, when we don't have ICU available.
     See: `_parse_words`
     """
-    return re.findall(r"([\w\-]+)", search_term, re.UNICODE)
+    return re.findall(r"([\w]+)", search_term, re.UNICODE)
 
 
 def _parse_words_with_icu(search_term: str) -> List[str]:
@@ -1309,7 +1309,7 @@ def _parse_words_with_icu(search_term: str) -> List[str]:
         # want to include those in results as they would result in syntax errors in SQL
         # queries (e.g. "foo bar" would result in the search query including "foo &  &
         # bar").
-        if len(re.findall(r"([\w\-]+)", result, re.UNICODE)):
+        if len(re.findall(r"([\w]+)", result, re.UNICODE)):
             results.append(result)
 
         i = j