diff --git a/src/languages/handlebars.js b/src/languages/handlebars.js
index 045838f1ec..881ce57080 100644
--- a/src/languages/handlebars.js
+++ b/src/languages/handlebars.js
@@ -159,8 +159,10 @@ function (hljs) {
         contains: [OPENING_BLOCK_MUSTACHE_CONTENTS],
       },
       {
-        className: 'keyword',
-        begin: /\{\{else\}\}/
+        className: 'template-tag',
+        begin: /\{\{(?=else\}\})/,
+        end: /\}\}/,
+        keywords: 'else'
       },
       {
         // closing block statement
diff --git a/test/markup/handlebars/else-variants.expect.txt b/test/markup/handlebars/else-variants.expect.txt
index ced6f1db06..9169b877c7 100644
--- a/test/markup/handlebars/else-variants.expect.txt
+++ b/test/markup/handlebars/else-variants.expect.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 <span class="xml">Multiple possibilities of using "else":
 
-</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{#<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="hljs-keyword">{{else}}</span><span class="xml">else-block</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{/<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="xml">
+</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{#<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{<span class="hljs-keyword">else</span>}}</span><span class="xml">else-block</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{/<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="xml">
 ...
-</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{#<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="xml">block</span><span class="hljs-keyword">{{else}}</span><span class="xml">else-block</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{/<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="xml">
+</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{#<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="xml">block</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{<span class="hljs-keyword">else</span>}}</span><span class="xml">else-block</span><span class="hljs-template-tag">{{/<span class="hljs-name">helper</span>}}</span><span class="xml">
 ...
 </span><span class="hljs-template-variable">{{<span class="hljs-name">[else]</span>}}</span><span class="xml"> in brackets is a helper, not a keyword
 ...