diff --git a/src/complete.cpp b/src/complete.cpp
index d880bb46b..e45d0f4e9 100644
--- a/src/complete.cpp
+++ b/src/complete.cpp
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ static bool compare_completions_by_duplicate_arguments(const completion_t &a,
 }
 
 static bool compare_completions_by_tilde(const completion_t &a, const completion_t &b) {
-    return (a.completion.back() == L'~') < (b.completion.back() == L'~');
+    return (a.completion.empty() < b.completion.empty()) || (a.completion.back() == L'~') < (b.completion.back() == L'~');
 }
 /// Unique the list of completions, without perturbing their order.
 static void unique_completions_retaining_order(std::vector<completion_t> *comps) {