diff --git a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
index 800e12c994..2e23b9acd6 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 # autogenerated by setuptools_scm
 from ._version import __version__ as VERSION  # type: ignore  # noqa: N812
 
-word_regex_def = "[\\w\\-'’`]+"
+word_regex_def = r"[\w\-'’]+"
 # While we want to treat characters like ( or " as okay for a starting break,
 # these may occur unescaped in URIs, and so we are more restrictive on the
 # endpoint.  Emails are more restrictive, so the endpoint remains flexible.
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ def parse_options(
         type=str,
         help="regular expression that is used to find words. "
         "By default any alphanumeric character, the "
-        "underscore, the hyphen, and the apostrophe is "
+        "underscore, the hyphen, and the apostrophe are "
         "used to build words. This option cannot be "
         "specified together with --write-changes.",
     )
diff --git a/codespell_lib/data/dictionary.txt b/codespell_lib/data/dictionary.txt
index 442e74caf6..849b84a379 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/data/dictionary.txt
+++ b/codespell_lib/data/dictionary.txt
@@ -13853,7 +13853,7 @@ cought->caught, cough, fought,
 coul->could
 could'nt->couldn't
 could't->couldn't
-coulden`t->couldn't
+coulden't->couldn't
 couldent->couldn't
 couldn->could, couldn't,
 couldn;t->couldn't
@@ -49897,7 +49897,7 @@ woudl->would
 woudn't->wouldn't
 would'nt->wouldn't
 would't->wouldn't
-woulden`t->wouldn't
+woulden't->wouldn't
 wouldent->wouldn't
 wouldn;t->wouldn't
 wouldnt'->wouldn't
diff --git a/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py b/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
index 9c35ce091d..473b72fef4 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
@@ -159,6 +159,16 @@ def test_basic(
     assert cs.main(tmp_path) == 0
 
 
+def test_default_word_parsing(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+    capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
+) -> None:
+    fname = tmp_path / "backtick"
+    with fname.open("a") as f:
+        f.write("`abandonned`\n")
+    assert cs.main(fname) == 1, "bad"
+
+
 def test_bad_glob(
     tmp_path: Path,
     capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],