diff --git a/grammars/julia.cson b/grammars/julia.cson
index 2c5db97..7ec55cd 100644
--- a/grammars/julia.cson
+++ b/grammars/julia.cson
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ repository:
         name: 'keyword.control.export.julia'
       }
       {
-        match: '\\b(?<![:_])(?:public)\\b'
+        match: '^(?:public)\\b'
         name: 'keyword.control.public.julia'
       }
       {
diff --git a/grammars/julia.json b/grammars/julia.json
index e51e834..2a21c2f 100644
--- a/grammars/julia.json
+++ b/grammars/julia.json
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@
           "name": "keyword.control.export.julia"
         },
         {
-          "match": "\\b(?<![:_])(?:public)\\b",
+          "match": "^(?:public)\\b",
           "name": "keyword.control.public.julia"
         },
         {
diff --git a/grammars/julia.template.json b/grammars/julia.template.json
index 739a5a6..1cafafd 100644
--- a/grammars/julia.template.json
+++ b/grammars/julia.template.json
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@
           "name": "keyword.control.export.julia"
         },
         {
-          "match": "\\b(?<![:_])(?:public)\\b",
+          "match": "^(?:public)\\b",
           "name": "keyword.control.public.julia"
         },
         {
diff --git a/grammars/julia_vscode.json b/grammars/julia_vscode.json
index d66acfa..fb75e8d 100644
--- a/grammars/julia_vscode.json
+++ b/grammars/julia_vscode.json
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@
           "name": "keyword.control.export.julia"
         },
         {
-          "match": "\\b(?<![:_])(?:public)\\b",
+          "match": "^(?:public)\\b",
           "name": "keyword.control.public.julia"
         },
         {
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index 37e3bd1..3bf464c 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -756,6 +756,27 @@ describe('Julia grammar', function () {
             },
         ])
     })
+    it("does not tokenize public in non-toplevel scopes", function () {
+        const tokens = tokenize(grammar, "2 + public")
+        compareTokens(tokens, [
+            {
+                value: "2",
+                scopes: ["constant.numeric.julia"]
+            },
+            {
+                value: " ",
+                scopes: []
+            },
+            {
+                value: "+",
+                scopes: ["keyword.operator.arithmetic.julia"]
+            },
+            {
+                value: " public",
+                scopes: []
+            },
+        ])
+    })
     it("tokenizes symbols", function () {
         const tokens = tokenize(grammar, ":à_b9!")
         compareTokens(tokens, [