diff --git a/updateHostsFile.py b/updateHostsFile.py
index 59c9b6d61..27d5b0962 100644
--- a/updateHostsFile.py
+++ b/updateHostsFile.py
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ def remove_dups_and_excl(merge_file):
         # Normalize rule
         hostname, normalized_rule = normalize_rule(stripped_rule)
         for exclude in exclusions:
-            if exclude in line:
+            if re.search('[\s\.]' + re.escape(exclude) + '\s', line):
                 write_line = False
                 break