diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/sh-script.el b/lisp/progmodes/sh-script.el
index 044d7820ee3..5a47594878e 100644
--- a/lisp/progmodes/sh-script.el
+++ b/lisp/progmodes/sh-script.el
@@ -838,7 +838,7 @@ See `sh-feature'.")
          font-lock-variable-name-face))
 
     (rc sh-append es)
-    (bash sh-append sh ("\\$(\\(\\sw+\\)" (1 'sh-quoted-exec t) ))
+    (bash sh-append sh ("\\$(\\([^)\n]+\\)" (1 'sh-quoted-exec t) ))
     (sh sh-append shell
 	;; Variable names.
 	("\\$\\({#?\\)?\\([[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*\\|[-#?@!]\\)" 2