diff --git a/extra/fuel/help/help-tests.factor b/extra/fuel/help/help-tests.factor
index f62145ae68..914951fb42 100644
--- a/extra/fuel/help/help-tests.factor
+++ b/extra/fuel/help/help-tests.factor
@@ -16,3 +16,9 @@ IN: fuel.help.tests
 { { $next-link POSTPONE: unit-test "unit-test" } } [
     \ unit-test >link \ $next-link next/prev-link
 ] unit-test
+
+{
+    { describe-words f }
+} [
+    "help.handbook" vocab-describe-words
+] unit-test
diff --git a/extra/fuel/help/help.factor b/extra/fuel/help/help.factor
index 582aafaace..433c40a03b 100644
--- a/extra/fuel/help/help.factor
+++ b/extra/fuel/help/help.factor
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ SYMBOL: describe-words
     disk-vocabs-for-prefix do-vocab-list ; inline
 
 : vocab-describe-words ( name -- element )
-    [ words. ] with-string-writer \ describe-words swap 2array ; inline
+    [ words. ] with-string-writer dup "\n" = [ drop f ] when
+    \ describe-words swap 2array ; inline
 
 : vocab-element ( name -- element )
     dup require \ article swap dup >vocab-link