diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 56398753fc..dcedf5f366 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 ### Linting
 
 - accept `process_low_memory` as a standard module label ([#4264](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/4264))
+- make regex for meta keys more specific to avoid false positives ([#XXXX](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/XXXX))
 
 ### Modules
 
diff --git a/nf_core/modules/lint/main_nf.py b/nf_core/modules/lint/main_nf.py
index b589bc3f0c..86b3d0f206 100644
--- a/nf_core/modules/lint/main_nf.py
+++ b/nf_core/modules/lint/main_nf.py
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ def check_script_section(self, lines):
     permitted_meta_keys = {"id", "single_end"}
     invalid_meta_keys = [
         f"{prefix}{key}"
-        for prefix, key in re.findall(r"\b(meta\d*\??\.)(\w+)\b(?!\()", script)
+        for prefix, key in re.findall(r"\b({(meta\d*\??\.)(\w+)\b(?!\()})", script)
         if key not in permitted_meta_keys
     ]
     if not invalid_meta_keys: