diff --git a/src/frontends/lean/server.cpp b/src/frontends/lean/server.cpp
index 877583bf3..696ef9ed9 100644
--- a/src/frontends/lean/server.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/lean/server.cpp
@@ -533,6 +533,12 @@ void server::find_pattern(unsigned line_num, std::string const & pattern) {
         m_out << " STALE";
     environment const & env = env_opts->first;
     options opts            = env_opts->second;
+    token_table const & tt  = get_token_table(env);
+    if (is_token(tt, pattern.c_str())) {
+        // we ignore patterns that match commands, keywords, and tokens.
+        m_out << "\n-- ENDFINDP" << std::endl;
+        return;
+    }
     opts = join(opts, m_ios.get_options());
     m_out << std::endl;
     unsigned max_errors = get_fuzzy_match_max_errors(pattern.size());
diff --git a/src/frontends/lean/token_table.cpp b/src/frontends/lean/token_table.cpp
index fbfbb0c1e..1de18d6b9 100644
--- a/src/frontends/lean/token_table.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/lean/token_table.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ optional<unsigned> get_precedence(token_table const & s, char const * token) {
     auto it = find(s, token);
     return it ? optional<unsigned>(it->precedence()) : optional<unsigned>();
 }
+bool is_token(token_table const & s, char const * token) {
+    return static_cast<bool>(find(s, token));
+}
 void for_each(token_table const & s, std::function<void(char const *, token_info const &)> const & fn) {
     s.for_each([&](unsigned num, char const * keys, token_info const & info) {
             buffer<char> str;
diff --git a/src/frontends/lean/token_table.h b/src/frontends/lean/token_table.h
index 068ccab7c..a7527e359 100644
--- a/src/frontends/lean/token_table.h
+++ b/src/frontends/lean/token_table.h
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ void for_each(token_table const & s, std::function<void(char const *, token_info
 void display(std::ostream & out, token_table const & s);
 token_table const * find(token_table const & s, char c);
 optional<unsigned> get_precedence(token_table const & s, char const * token);
+bool is_token(token_table const & s, char const * token);
 token_info const * value_of(token_table const & s);
 void open_token_table(lua_State * L);
 }