diff --git a/parse.y b/parse.y
index 89e3d5b647..fd7ba924f9 100644
--- a/parse.y
+++ b/parse.y
@@ -7596,7 +7596,8 @@ parse_atmark(struct parser_params *p, const enum lex_state_e last_state)
 	tokadd(p, '@');
 	c = nextc(p);
     }
-    if (c == -1 || ISSPACE(c)) {
+    if (c == -1 || !parser_is_identchar(p)) {
+	pushback(p, c);
 	if (result == tIVAR) {
 	    compile_error(p, "`@' without identifiers is not allowed as an instance variable name");
 	}
@@ -7605,7 +7606,7 @@ parse_atmark(struct parser_params *p, const enum lex_state_e last_state)
 	}
 	return 0;
     }
-    else if (ISDIGIT(c) || !parser_is_identchar(p)) {
+    else if (ISDIGIT(c)) {
 	pushback(p, c);
 	if (result == tIVAR) {
 	    compile_error(p, "`@%c' is not allowed as an instance variable name", c);
diff --git a/test/ripper/test_parser_events.rb b/test/ripper/test_parser_events.rb
index 3c78daf16e..0591eeb781 100644
--- a/test/ripper/test_parser_events.rb
+++ b/test/ripper/test_parser_events.rb
@@ -1479,13 +1479,13 @@ class TestRipper::ParserEvents < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   def test_invalid_instance_variable_name
     assert_equal("`@1' is not allowed as an instance variable name", compile_error('@1'))
-    assert_equal("`@%' is not allowed as an instance variable name", compile_error('@%'))
+    assert_equal("`@' without identifiers is not allowed as an instance variable name", compile_error('@%'))
     assert_equal("`@' without identifiers is not allowed as an instance variable name", compile_error('@'))
   end
 
   def test_invalid_class_variable_name
     assert_equal("`@@1' is not allowed as a class variable name", compile_error('@@1'))
-    assert_equal("`@@%' is not allowed as a class variable name", compile_error('@@%'))
+    assert_equal("`@@' without identifiers is not allowed as a class variable name", compile_error('@@%'))
     assert_equal("`@@' without identifiers is not allowed as a class variable name", compile_error('@@'))
   end
 
diff --git a/test/ruby/test_parse.rb b/test/ruby/test_parse.rb
index a8389705af..0b3657f8a0 100644
--- a/test/ruby/test_parse.rb
+++ b/test/ruby/test_parse.rb
@@ -376,23 +376,25 @@ class TestParse < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_nothing_raised { eval(':""') }
   end
 
-  def assert_disallowed_variable(type, noname, *invalid)
-    assert_syntax_error("a = #{noname}", "`#{noname}' without identifiers is not allowed as #{type} variable name")
+  def assert_disallowed_variable(type, noname, invalid)
+    noname.each do |name|
+      assert_syntax_error("a = #{name}", "`#{noname[0]}' without identifiers is not allowed as #{type} variable name")
+    end
     invalid.each do |name|
       assert_syntax_error("a = #{name}", "`#{name}' is not allowed as #{type} variable name")
     end
   end
 
   def test_disallowed_instance_variable
-    assert_disallowed_variable("an instance", *%w[@ @1 @.])
+    assert_disallowed_variable("an instance", %w[@ @.], %w[@1])
   end
 
   def test_disallowed_class_variable
-    assert_disallowed_variable("a class", *%w[@@ @@1 @@.])
+    assert_disallowed_variable("a class", %w[@@ @@.], %w[@@1])
   end
 
   def test_disallowed_gloal_variable
-    assert_disallowed_variable("a global", *%w[$ $%])
+    assert_disallowed_variable("a global", %w[$], %w[$%])
   end
 
   def test_arg2