diff --git a/anki/tags.py b/anki/tags.py
index 79803a32b..c782120ec 100644
--- a/anki/tags.py
+++ b/anki/tags.py
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ class TagManager:
         "Delete tags if they exist."
         def wildcard(pat, str):
             pat = re.escape(pat).replace('\\*', '.*')
-            return re.search(pat, str, re.IGNORECASE)
+            return re.match("^"+pat+"$", str, re.IGNORECASE)
         currentTags = self.split(tags)
         for tag in self.split(deltags):
             # find tags, ignoring case