diff --git a/spec/assertions_spec.lua b/spec/assertions_spec.lua
index c07d8d9..0177006 100644
--- a/spec/assertions_spec.lua
+++ b/spec/assertions_spec.lua
@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@ describe("Test Assertions", function()
     assert.same(t2, t1)
   end)
 
+  it("Checks same() assertion handles table keys properly", function()
+    assert.are.same({ [{}] = 1 }, { [{}] = 1 })
+    assert.are.not_same({ [{}] = 1 }, { [{}] = 2 })
+    assert.are.not_same({ }, { [{}] = 2 })
+    assert.are.not_same({ [{"a"}] = 1 }, { [{"b"}] = 1 })
+    assert.are.not_same({ [{"a"}] = 1, [{"a"}] = 1 }, { [{"b"}] = 1, [{"a"}] = 1, [{"a"}] = 2 })
+  end)
+
   it("Checks same() assertion to handle recursive tables", function()
     local t1 = { k1 = 1, k2 = 2 }
     local t2 = { k1 = 1, k2 = 2 }
@@ -89,6 +97,17 @@ describe("Test Assertions", function()
     assert.same(t1, t3)
   end)
 
+  it("Checks same() assertion handles table keys with recursion properly", function()
+    local a = {}
+    local b = {}
+    local t1 = { [a] = a }
+    local t2 = { [b] = a }
+
+    assert.are.same(t1, t2)
+    assert.are.same({ [{ [{}] = 2 }] = 1 }, { [{ [{}] = 2 }] = 1 })
+    assert.are.not_same({ [{ [{}] = 2 }] = 1 }, { [{ [{}] = 3 }] = 1 })
+  end)
+
   it("Checks same() assertion to handle recursive tables that don't match", function()
     local t1 = {}
     local t2 = {}
@@ -168,6 +187,7 @@ describe("Test Assertions", function()
     assert.is_table(c1[2][3][3][3][2][3][3][3][2][3][3][3][2])
     assert.is_nil(m1[2][3][3][3][2][3][3][3][2][3][3][3][2])
     assert.are_not_same(c1, m1)
+    assert.are_not_same({ [c1] = 1 }, { [m1] = 1 })
   end)
 
   it("Checks to see if tables 1 and 2 are equal", function()
@@ -192,6 +212,11 @@ describe("Test Assertions", function()
     assert.is_not.unique(tablenotunique)
   end)
 
+  it("Checks to see if table1 only contains unique elements, including keys", function()
+    assert.is.not_unique({ [{}] = 1, [{}] = 1 }, true)
+    assert.is.not_unique({{ [{}] = 1 }, { [{}] = 1 }}, true)
+  end)
+
   it("Checks near() assertion handles tolerances", function()
     assert.is.error(function() assert.near(0) end)  -- minimum 3 arguments
     assert.is.error(function() assert.near(0, 0) end)  -- minimum 3 arguments
diff --git a/spec/matchers_spec.lua b/spec/matchers_spec.lua
index 104904b..74ac5b2 100644
--- a/spec/matchers_spec.lua
+++ b/spec/matchers_spec.lua
@@ -164,6 +164,10 @@ describe("Test Matchers", function()
     assert.is_false(match.is_same(nil)("a string"))
   end)
 
+  it("Checks same() matcher to handle table keys properly", function()
+    assert.is_true(match.is_same({ [{}] = 1 })({ [{}] = 1}))
+  end)
+
   it("Checks ref() matcher", function()
     local t = {}
     local func = function() end
@@ -220,6 +224,11 @@ describe("Test Matchers", function()
     assert.is_true(match.is_not.unique()(tablenotunique))
   end)
 
+  it("Checks to see if table1 only contains unique elements, including table keys", function()
+    assert.is_true(match.is_not.unique(true)({ [{}] = 1, [{}] = 1 }, true))
+    assert.is_true(match.is_not.unique(true)({{ [{}] = 1 }, { [{}] = 1 }}, true))
+  end)
+
   it("Checks '_' chaining of modifiers and match", function()
     assert.is_true(match.is_string()("abc"))
     assert.is_true(match.is_true()(true))
diff --git a/src/util.lua b/src/util.lua
index da2f247..2c460bd 100644
--- a/src/util.lua
+++ b/src/util.lua
@@ -40,23 +40,58 @@ function util.deepcompare(t1,t2,ignore_mt,cycles,thresh1,thresh2)
   cycles[1][t1] = cycles[1][t1] + 1
   cycles[2][t2] = cycles[2][t2] + 1
 
+  local table_keys = {{}, {}} -- keys of type 'table' that we'll handle later
+
   for k1,v1 in next, t1 do
     local v2 = t2[k1]
-    if v2 == nil then
+    if v2 == nil and type(k1) == 'table' then
+      table.insert(table_keys[1], k1)
+    elseif v2 == nil then
       return false, {k1}
+    else
+      local same, crumbs = util.deepcompare(v1,v2,nil,cycles,thresh1,thresh2)
+      if not same then
+        crumbs = crumbs or {}
+        table.insert(crumbs, k1)
+        return false, crumbs
+      end
+    end
+  end
+  for k2,_ in next, t2 do
+    -- only check whether each element has a t1 counterpart, actual comparison
+    -- has been done in first loop above
+    if t1[k2] == nil then
+      if type(k2) == 'table' then
+        table.insert(table_keys[2], k2)
+      else
+        return false, {k2}
+      end
     end
+  end
 
-    local same, crumbs = util.deepcompare(v1,v2,nil,cycles,thresh1,thresh2)
-    if not same then
-      crumbs = crumbs or {}
+  -- try to match up every pair with every other pair. remove a matched pair
+  -- or fail if no match was found.
+  for _, k1 in ipairs(table_keys[1]) do
+    local key_same, value_same = false, false
+    local key_crumbs, value_crumbs = nil, nil
+    for j, k2 in ipairs(table_keys[2]) do
+      key_same, key_crumbs = util.deepcompare(k1, k2, nil, cycles, thresh1, thresh2)
+      value_same, value_crumbs = util.deepcompare(t1[k1], t2[k2], nil, cycles, thresh1, thresh2)
+      if key_same and value_same then
+        table.remove(table_keys[2], j)
+        break
+      end
+    end
+    if not key_same or not value_same then
+      local crumbs = key_crumbs or value_crumbs or {}
       table.insert(crumbs, k1)
       return false, crumbs
     end
   end
-  for k2,_ in next, t2 do
-    -- only check whether each element has a t1 counterpart, actual comparison
-    -- has been done in first loop above
-    if t1[k2] == nil then return false, {k2} end
+
+  -- check that we've matched all keys from the second table as well
+  if #table_keys[2] > 0 then
+    return false, {table_keys[2][1]}
   end
 
   cycles[1][t1] = cycles[1][t1] - 1