diff --git a/autoload/xolox/easytags.vim b/autoload/xolox/easytags.vim
index b639bbf..99a4186 100644
--- a/autoload/xolox/easytags.vim
+++ b/autoload/xolox/easytags.vim
@@ -462,9 +462,8 @@ function! xolox#easytags#highlight() " {{{2
           if matches != []
             " Convert matched tags to :syntax command and execute it.
             let matches = xolox#misc#list#unique(map(matches, 'xolox#misc#escape#pattern(get(v:val, "name"))'))
-            let pattern = tagkind.pattern_prefix . '\%(' . join(matches, '\|') . '\)' . tagkind.pattern_suffix
-            let template = 'syntax match %s /%s/ containedin=ALLBUT,%s'
-            let command = printf(template, hlgroup_tagged, escape(pattern, '/'), xolox#easytags#syntax_groups_to_ignore())
+            let template = 'syntax keyword %s %s containedin=ALLBUT,%s'
+            let command = printf(template, hlgroup_tagged, join(matches, ' '), xolox#easytags#syntax_groups_to_ignore())
             call xolox#misc#msg#debug("easytags.vim %s: Executing command '%s'.", g:xolox#easytags#version, command)
             try
               execute command
diff --git a/misc/easytags/highlight.py b/misc/easytags/highlight.py
index 6053726..a3dcac5 100644
--- a/misc/easytags/highlight.py
+++ b/misc/easytags/highlight.py
@@ -51,5 +51,5 @@ def easytags_gensyncmd(tagsfiles, filetype, tagkinds, syntaxgroup, prefix, suffi
     return ' | '.join(commands)
 
 def _easytags_makecmd(syntaxgroup, prefix, suffix, patterns, ignoresyntax):
-    template = r'syntax match %s /%s\%%(%s\)%s/ containedin=ALLBUT,%s'
-    return template % (syntaxgroup, prefix, r'\|'.join(patterns), suffix, ignoresyntax)
+    template = r'syntax keyword %s %s containedin=ALLBUT,%s'
+    return template % (syntaxgroup, r' '.join(patterns), ignoresyntax)