diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/groupby.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/groupby.py
index d137fac5fe3..a64aabe1a6b 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/groupby.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/groupby.py
@@ -83,13 +83,21 @@ def __getitem__(self, key):
         g._meta = g._meta[key]
         return g
 
+    @_dask_cudf_nvtx_annotate
+    def _make_groupby_method_aggs(self, agg_name):
+        """Create aggs dictionary for aggregation methods"""
+
+        if isinstance(self.by, list):
+            return {c: agg_name for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by}
+        return {c: agg_name for c in self.obj.columns if c != self.by}
+
     @_dask_cudf_nvtx_annotate
     @_check_groupby_supported
     def count(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "count" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("count"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -104,7 +112,7 @@ def mean(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "mean" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("mean"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -119,7 +127,7 @@ def std(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "std" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("std"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -134,7 +142,7 @@ def var(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "var" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("var"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -149,7 +157,7 @@ def sum(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "sum" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("sum"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -164,7 +172,7 @@ def min(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "min" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("min"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -179,7 +187,7 @@ def max(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "max" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("max"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -194,7 +202,7 @@ def collect(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "collect" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("collect"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -209,7 +217,7 @@ def first(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "first" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("first"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -224,7 +232,7 @@ def last(self, split_every=None, split_out=1):
         return groupby_agg(
             self.obj,
             self.by,
-            {c: "last" for c in self.obj.columns if c not in self.by},
+            self._make_groupby_method_aggs("last"),
             split_every=split_every,
             split_out=split_out,
             sep=self.sep,
@@ -660,6 +668,7 @@ def _aggs_supported(arg, supported: set):
     return False
 
 
+@_dask_cudf_nvtx_annotate
 def _groupby_supported(gb):
     """Check that groupby input is supported by dask-cudf"""
     return isinstance(gb.obj, DaskDataFrame) and (
diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_groupby.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_groupby.py
index d2c9ecd0293..5aa9cffb789 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_groupby.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_groupby.py
@@ -18,20 +18,24 @@
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("series", [False, True])
 def test_groupby_basic(series, aggregation):
     np.random.seed(0)
+
+    # note that column name "x" is a substring of the groupby key;
+    # this gives us coverage for cudf#10829
     pdf = pd.DataFrame(
         {
-            "x": np.random.randint(0, 5, size=10000),
+            "xx": np.random.randint(0, 5, size=10000),
+            "x": np.random.normal(size=10000),
             "y": np.random.normal(size=10000),
         }
     )
 
     gdf = cudf.DataFrame.from_pandas(pdf)
-    gdf_grouped = gdf.groupby("x")
-    ddf_grouped = dask_cudf.from_cudf(gdf, npartitions=5).groupby("x")
+    gdf_grouped = gdf.groupby("xx")
+    ddf_grouped = dask_cudf.from_cudf(gdf, npartitions=5).groupby("xx")
 
     if series:
-        gdf_grouped = gdf_grouped.x
-        ddf_grouped = ddf_grouped.x
+        gdf_grouped = gdf_grouped.xx
+        ddf_grouped = ddf_grouped.xx
 
     a = getattr(gdf_grouped, aggregation)()
     b = getattr(ddf_grouped, aggregation)().compute()
@@ -41,8 +45,8 @@ def test_groupby_basic(series, aggregation):
     else:
         dd.assert_eq(a, b)
 
-    a = gdf_grouped.agg({"x": aggregation})
-    b = ddf_grouped.agg({"x": aggregation}).compute()
+    a = gdf_grouped.agg({"xx": aggregation})
+    b = ddf_grouped.agg({"xx": aggregation}).compute()
 
     if aggregation == "count":
         dd.assert_eq(a, b, check_dtype=False)