diff --git a/completions/ssh-keygen b/completions/ssh-keygen
index 83da5f73cd5..095f36b99c2 100644
--- a/completions/ssh-keygen
+++ b/completions/ssh-keygen
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ _comp_cmd_ssh_keygen()
     local cur prev words cword comp_args
     _comp_initialize -n := -- "$@" || return
 
+    local IFS=$' \t\n' # for ${words[*]}
     local noargopts='!(-*|*[ aCIJjMNPSVWzbEFRDwfGKsTmnOrtY]*)'
     # shellcheck disable=SC2254
     case $prev in