diff --git a/packages/jest-each/src/validation.ts b/packages/jest-each/src/validation.ts
index 3355023150ff..52238ed53283 100644
--- a/packages/jest-each/src/validation.ts
+++ b/packages/jest-each/src/validation.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ const pluralize = (word: string, count: number) =>
 
 const START_OF_LINE = '^';
 const NEWLINE = '\\n';
-const HEADING = '\\s*\\w+\\s*';
+const HEADING = '\\s*[^\\s]+\\s*';
 const PIPE = '\\|';
 const REPEATABLE_HEADING = `(${PIPE}${HEADING})*`;
 const HEADINGS_FORMAT = new RegExp(