diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Shared.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Shared.hs
index f6feb03e2..06f5d4d5c 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Shared.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Shared.hs
@@ -548,8 +548,12 @@ breakable t
   | T.any (== ' ') t = mconcat $ foldr go mempty (T.split (==' ') t)
   | otherwise = Text (realLength t) t
  where
-  go "" xs = BreakingSpace : xs
+  go "" xs =
+   case xs of
+     BreakingSpace : _ -> xs
+     _ -> BreakingSpace : xs
   go t' xs = Text (realLength t') t' :
     case xs of
       [] -> xs
+      BreakingSpace : _ -> xs
       _ -> BreakingSpace : xs
diff --git a/test/docx/golden/custom_style_no_reference.docx b/test/docx/golden/custom_style_no_reference.docx
index 49cf42f38..71688a222 100644
Binary files a/test/docx/golden/custom_style_no_reference.docx and b/test/docx/golden/custom_style_no_reference.docx differ
diff --git a/test/docx/golden/custom_style_reference.docx b/test/docx/golden/custom_style_reference.docx
index e7da8f06d..4ae6bfcbe 100644
Binary files a/test/docx/golden/custom_style_reference.docx and b/test/docx/golden/custom_style_reference.docx differ