diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
index 3863ba32..b5b8b454 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -225,11 +225,11 @@ class TestUtils(LoggedTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(
             utils.truncate_html_words('�', 20), '�')
         self.assertEqual(
-            utils.truncate_html_words('&mdash', 20), '&mdash')
+            utils.truncate_html_words('&mdash text', 20), '&mdash text')
         self.assertEqual(
-            utils.truncate_html_words('&#1234', 20), '&#1234')
+            utils.truncate_html_words('&#1234 text', 20), '&#1234 text')
         self.assertEqual(
-            utils.truncate_html_words('&#xabc', 20), '&#xabc')
+            utils.truncate_html_words('&#xabc text', 20), '&#xabc text')
 
     def test_process_translations(self):
         fr_articles = []
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index ab2e4a6e..f9c5eb3f 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -571,13 +571,12 @@ class _HTMLWordTruncator(HTMLParser):
         # - `1` (the length of `&`)
         # - `len(name)` (the length of `mdash`)
         # - `1` (the length of `;`)
-        # - `1` (required to go to the start of `suffix`)
         #
         # Note that, in case of malformed HTML, the ';' character may
         # not be present.
 
         offset = self.getoffset()
-        ref_end = offset + len(name) + 1 + 1
+        ref_end = offset + len(name) + 1
 
         try:
             if self.rawdata[ref_end] == ';':
@@ -623,7 +622,7 @@ class _HTMLWordTruncator(HTMLParser):
             char = six.unichr(codepoint)
         except (ValueError, OverflowError):
             char = ''
-        self._handle_ref(name, char)
+        self._handle_ref('#' + name, char)
 
 
 def truncate_html_words(s, num, end_text='…'):