diff --git a/platform/indexing-api/src/com/intellij/psi/search/SearchRequestCollector.java b/platform/indexing-api/src/com/intellij/psi/search/SearchRequestCollector.java
index ea7f247546a2..22fbfa1b4947 100644
--- a/platform/indexing-api/src/com/intellij/psi/search/SearchRequestCollector.java
+++ b/platform/indexing-api/src/com/intellij/psi/search/SearchRequestCollector.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 package com.intellij.psi.search;
 
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
 import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement;
 import com.intellij.psi.PsiFileSystemItem;
 import com.intellij.psi.PsiReference;
@@ -57,6 +58,9 @@ public class SearchRequestCollector {
     if (searchScope instanceof LocalSearchScope && ((LocalSearchScope)searchScope).getScope().length == 0) {
       return;
     }
+    if (StringUtil.isEmpty(word)) {
+      return;
+    }
 
     synchronized (lock) {
       myWordRequests.add(new PsiSearchRequest(searchScope, word, searchContext, caseSensitive, processor));