diff --git a/lib/pointer.ts b/lib/pointer.ts
index be021ee5..8ff3dd02 100644
--- a/lib/pointer.ts
+++ b/lib/pointer.ts
@@ -103,6 +103,21 @@ class Pointer {
 
       const token = tokens[i];
       if (this.value[token] === undefined || (this.value[token] === null && i === tokens.length - 1)) {
+        // one final case is if the entry itself includes slashes, and was parsed out as a token - we can join the remaining tokens and try again
+        let didFindSubstringSlashMatch = false;
+        for (let j = tokens.length - 1; j > i; j--) {
+          const joinedToken = tokens.slice(i, j + 1).join("/");
+          if (this.value[joinedToken] !== undefined) {
+            this.value = this.value[joinedToken];
+            i = j;
+            didFindSubstringSlashMatch = true;
+            break;
+          }
+        }
+        if (didFindSubstringSlashMatch) {
+          continue;
+        }
+
         this.value = null;
         throw new MissingPointerError(token, decodeURI(this.originalPath));
       } else {
diff --git a/test/specs/substrings/definitions/slash-strings.yaml b/test/specs/substrings/definitions/slash-strings.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5a28959e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/specs/substrings/definitions/slash-strings.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+channels:
+  'smartylighting/streetlights/1/0/event/{streetlightId}/lighting/measured':
+    description: The topic on which measured values may be produced and consumed.
+    parameters:
+      streetlightId:
+        description: The ID of the streetlight.
+        schema:
+          type: string
diff --git a/test/specs/substrings/slash.spec.ts b/test/specs/substrings/slash.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bf6bb0a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/specs/substrings/slash.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { describe, it } from "vitest";
+import $RefParser from "../../../lib/index.js";
+import path from "../../utils/path.js";
+
+import { expect } from "vitest";
+
+describe("$refs that include slashes", () => {
+  it("should parse successfully", async () => {
+    const parser = new $RefParser();
+    await parser.parse(path.rel("test/specs/substrings/definitions/slash-strings.yaml"));
+    const $refs = parser.$refs;
+    const ref = $refs.get(
+      "#/channels/smartylighting/streetlights/1/0/event/{streetlightId}/lighting/measured/parameters",
+    );
+    expect(ref).to.deep.equal({
+      streetlightId: {
+        description: "The ID of the streetlight.",
+        schema: {
+          type: "string",
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+});