diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index fab38b493cef..7e505688257a 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -3050,19 +3050,30 @@ sub process {
 
 # check for repeated words separated by a single space
 		if ($rawline =~ /^\+/ || $in_commit_log) {
+			pos($rawline) = 1 if (!$in_commit_log);
 			while ($rawline =~ /\b($word_pattern) (?=($word_pattern))/g) {
 
 				my $first = $1;
 				my $second = $2;
-
+				my $start_pos = $-[1];
+				my $end_pos = $+[2];
 				if ($first =~ /(?:struct|union|enum)/) {
 					pos($rawline) += length($first) + length($second) + 1;
 					next;
 				}
 
-				next if ($first ne $second);
+				next if (lc($first) ne lc($second));
 				next if ($first eq 'long');
 
+				# check for character before and after the word matches
+				my $start_char = '';
+				my $end_char = '';
+				$start_char = substr($rawline, $start_pos - 1, 1) if ($start_pos > ($in_commit_log ? 0 : 1));
+				$end_char = substr($rawline, $end_pos, 1) if ($end_pos < length($rawline));
+
+				next if ($start_char =~ /^\S$/);
+				next if (index(" \t.,;?!", $end_char) == -1);
+
 				if (WARN("REPEATED_WORD",
 					 "Possible repeated word: '$first'\n" . $herecurr) &&
 				    $fix) {