diff --git a/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/string_space.rs b/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/string_space.rs
index 00b880730a..4ab5362793 100644
--- a/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/string_space.rs
+++ b/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/string_space.rs
@@ -119,9 +119,14 @@ fn generic_string_space<OffsetSize: OffsetSizeTrait>(length: &Int32Array) -> Arr
     let null_bit_buffer = length.to_data().nulls().map(|b| b.buffer().clone());
 
     // Gets slice of length array to access it directly for performance.
+    // Negative length values are set to zero to match Spark behavior
     let length_data = length.to_data();
-    let lengths = length_data.buffers()[0].typed_data::<i32>();
-    let total = lengths.iter().map(|l| *l as usize).sum::<usize>();
+    let lengths: Vec<_> = length_data.buffers()[0]
+        .typed_data::<i32>()
+        .iter()
+        .map(|l| (*l).max(0) as usize)
+        .collect();
+    let total = lengths.iter().sum::<usize>();
     let mut values = MutableBuffer::new(total);
 
     offsets.push(length_so_far);
@@ -130,7 +135,7 @@ fn generic_string_space<OffsetSize: OffsetSizeTrait>(length: &Int32Array) -> Arr
     values.resize(total, blank);
 
     (0..array_len).for_each(|i| {
-        let current_len = lengths[i] as usize;
+        let current_len = lengths[i];
 
         length_so_far += OffsetSize::from_usize(current_len).unwrap();
         offsets.push(length_so_far);
@@ -149,3 +154,24 @@ fn generic_string_space<OffsetSize: OffsetSizeTrait>(length: &Int32Array) -> Arr
     };
     make_array(data)
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use arrow::array::StringArray;
+    use datafusion::common::cast::as_string_array;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_negative_length() {
+        let input = Int32Array::from(vec![Some(-1), Some(-2), None]);
+        let args = ColumnarValue::Array(Arc::new(input));
+        match spark_string_space(&[args]) {
+            Ok(ColumnarValue::Array(result)) => {
+                let actual = as_string_array(&result).unwrap();
+                let expected = StringArray::from(vec![Some(""), Some(""), None]);
+                assert_eq!(actual, &expected)
+            }
+            _ => unreachable!(),
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/substring.rs b/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/substring.rs
index f0ecb4e7e3..5037a6e06f 100644
--- a/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/substring.rs
+++ b/native/spark-expr/src/string_funcs/substring.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ impl Display for SubstringExpr {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
         write!(
             f,
-            "StringSpace [start: {}, len: {}, child: {}]",
+            "Substring [start: {}, len: {}, child: {}]",
             self.start, self.len, self.child
         )
     }
diff --git a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometStringExpressionSuite.scala b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometStringExpressionSuite.scala
index f9882780c8..662534b3cd 100644
--- a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometStringExpressionSuite.scala
+++ b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometStringExpressionSuite.scala
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ class CometStringExpressionSuite extends CometTestBase {
   }
 
   test("string_space") {
-    withParquetTable((0 until 5).map(i => (i, i + 1)), "tbl") {
+    withParquetTable((0 until 5).map(i => (-i, i + 1)), "tbl") {
       checkSparkAnswerAndOperator("SELECT space(_1), space(_2) FROM tbl")
     }
   }