diff --git a/js/misc/inputMethod.js b/js/misc/inputMethod.js
index d169ea8cbe1f91fc9107f3e7e951193463bac550..53af39d8582230a1e33a4798ce7334b6b38c57d6 100644
--- a/js/misc/inputMethod.js
+++ b/js/misc/inputMethod.js
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ export const InputMethod = GObject.registerClass({
 
         this._surroundingText = null;
         this._surroundingTextCursor = null;
+        this._surroundingTextAnchor = null;
         this._preeditStr = null;
         this._setTerminalMode(false);
     }
@@ -247,6 +248,7 @@ export const InputMethod = GObject.registerClass({
     vfunc_set_surrounding(text, cursor, anchor) {
         this._surroundingText = text;
         this._surroundingTextCursor = cursor;
+        this._surroundingTextAnchor = anchor;
         this.emit('surrounding-text-set');
 
         if (!this._context || (!text && text !== ''))
@@ -348,7 +350,11 @@ export const InputMethod = GObject.registerClass({
     }
 
     getSurroundingText() {
-        return [this._surroundingText, this._surroundingTextCursor];
+        return [
+            this._surroundingText,
+            this._surroundingTextCursor,
+            this._surroundingTextAnchor,
+        ];
     }
 
     hasPreedit() {
diff --git a/js/ui/keyboard.js b/js/ui/keyboard.js
index 1aa47ae47b52f250ac09f2335d81f2fbaf3f9244..38f1b8ee3a3dcdfc412cc50fdc13a5b6625d7640 100644
--- a/js/ui/keyboard.js
+++ b/js/ui/keyboard.js
@@ -1619,18 +1619,10 @@ export const Keyboard = GObject.registerClass({
     }
 
     _previousWordPosition(text, cursor) {
-        /* Skip word prior to cursor */
-        let pos = Math.max(0, text.slice(0, cursor).search(/\s+\S+\s*$/));
-        if (pos < 0)
-            return 0;
-
-        /* Skip contiguous spaces */
-        for (; pos >= 0; pos--) {
-            if (text.charAt(pos) !== ' ')
-                return GLib.utf8_strlen(text.slice(0, pos + 1), -1);
-        }
-
-        return 0;
+        const upToCursor = [...text].slice(0, cursor).join('');
+        const jsStringPos = Math.max(0, upToCursor.search(/\s+\S+\s*$/));
+        const charPos = GLib.utf8_strlen(text.slice(0, jsStringPos), -1);
+        return charPos;
     }
 
     _toggleDelete(enabled) {
@@ -1658,31 +1650,35 @@ export const Keyboard = GObject.registerClass({
         }
 
         if (enabled) {
-            let func = (text, cursor) => {
-                if (cursor === 0)
+            let func = (text, cursor, anchor) => {
+                if (cursor === 0 && anchor === 0)
                     return;
 
-                let encoder = new TextEncoder();
-                let decoder = new TextDecoder();
-
-                /* Find cursor/anchor position in characters */
-                const cursorIdx = GLib.utf8_strlen(decoder.decode(encoder.encode(
-                    text).slice(0, cursor)), -1);
-                const anchorIdx = this._timesDeleted < BACKSPACE_WORD_DELETE_THRESHOLD
-                    ? cursorIdx - 1
-                    : this._previousWordPosition(text, cursor);
-                /* Now get offset from cursor */
-                const offset = anchorIdx - cursorIdx;
+                let offset, len;
+                if (cursor > anchor) {
+                    offset = anchor - cursor;
+                    len = -offset;
+                } else if (cursor < anchor) {
+                    offset = 0;
+                    len = anchor - cursor;
+                } else if (this._timesDeleted < BACKSPACE_WORD_DELETE_THRESHOLD) {
+                    offset = -1;
+                    len = 1;
+                } else {
+                    const wordLength = cursor - this._previousWordPosition(text, cursor);
+                    offset = -wordLength;
+                    len = wordLength;
+                }
 
                 this._timesDeleted++;
-                Main.inputMethod.delete_surrounding(offset, Math.abs(offset));
+                Main.inputMethod.delete_surrounding(offset, len);
             };
 
             this._surroundingUpdateId = Main.inputMethod.connect(
                 'surrounding-text-set', () => {
-                    let [text, cursor] = Main.inputMethod.getSurroundingText();
+                    let [text, cursor, anchor] = Main.inputMethod.getSurroundingText();
                     if (this._timesDeleted === 0) {
-                        func(text, cursor);
+                        func(text, cursor, anchor);
                     } else {
                         if (this._surroundingUpdateTimeoutId > 0) {
                             GLib.source_remove(this._surroundingUpdateTimeoutId);
@@ -1690,16 +1686,16 @@ export const Keyboard = GObject.registerClass({
                         }
                         this._surroundingUpdateTimeoutId =
                             GLib.timeout_add(GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, KEY_RELEASE_TIMEOUT, () => {
-                                func(text, cursor);
+                                func(text, cursor, cursor);
                                 this._surroundingUpdateTimeoutId = 0;
                                 return GLib.SOURCE_REMOVE;
                             });
                     }
                 });
 
-            let [text, cursor] = Main.inputMethod.getSurroundingText();
+            let [text, cursor, anchor] = Main.inputMethod.getSurroundingText();
             if (text)
-                func(text, cursor);
+                func(text, cursor, anchor);
             else
                 Main.inputMethod.request_surrounding();
         } else {