diff --git a/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module b/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
index 7aa09621736..c4962504665 100644
--- a/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
+++ b/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
@@ -953,7 +953,7 @@ function _taxonomy_term_children($tid) {
  *   An array of matching term objects.
  */
 function taxonomy_get_term_by_name($name) {
-  $db_result = db_query(db_rewrite_sql("SELECT t.tid, t.* FROM {term_data} t WHERE LOWER(t.name) LIKE LOWER('%s')", 't', 'tid'), trim($name));
+  $db_result = db_query(db_rewrite_sql("SELECT t.tid, t.* FROM {term_data} t WHERE LOWER(t.name) = LOWER('%s')", 't', 'tid'), trim($name));
   $result = array();
   while ($term = db_fetch_object($db_result)) {
     $result[] = $term;