diff --git a/source/Handlebars/Compiler/Lexer/Parsers/WordParser.cs b/source/Handlebars/Compiler/Lexer/Parsers/WordParser.cs
index ac24c4ac..d715b72d 100644
--- a/source/Handlebars/Compiler/Lexer/Parsers/WordParser.cs
+++ b/source/Handlebars/Compiler/Lexer/Parsers/WordParser.cs
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 using System;
 using System.IO;
-using System.Linq;
 using System.Text;
 
 namespace HandlebarsDotNet.Compiler.Lexer
 {
     internal class WordParser : Parser
     {
-        private const string validWordStartCharacters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ_$.@";
+        private const string validWordStartCharacters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ_$.@[]";
 
         public override Token Parse(TextReader reader)
         {
@@ -45,7 +44,7 @@ private string AccumulateWord(TextReader reader)
                 {
                     var peek = (char)reader.Peek();
 
-                    if (peek == '}' || peek == '~' || peek == ')' || char.IsWhiteSpace(peek))
+                    if (peek == '}' || peek == '~' || peek == ')' || (char.IsWhiteSpace(peek) && !buffer.ToString().Contains("[")))
                     {
                         break;
                     }
@@ -65,7 +64,13 @@ private string AccumulateWord(TextReader reader)
 
                 buffer.Append((char)node);
             }
-            return buffer.ToString();
+
+            if (buffer.ToString().Contains("[") && !buffer.ToString().Contains("]"))
+            {
+                throw new HandlebarsCompilerException("Expression is missing a closing ].");
+            }
+
+            return buffer.ToString().Trim();
         }
     }
 }