diff --git a/crates/edit/src/tests.rs b/crates/edit/src/tests.rs
index 39627c08c..602d0d83b 100644
--- a/crates/edit/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/edit/src/tests.rs
@@ -5253,3 +5253,22 @@ fn stacked_rows_that_merely_overlap_do_not_join_into_one_row() {
     let blocks = text::text_blocks(&doc, 0).unwrap();
     assert_eq!(blocks.len(), 2, "two separate rows stay two paragraphs, not one: {blocks:?}");
 }
+
+/// Two equal-size rows with no horizontal overlap must not join into one row either (#3252):
+/// the wider tolerance is for a run distinctly smaller or larger than its neighbour (a
+/// super/subscript), not for two ordinary body-text rows that happen to sit close enough
+/// vertically — here a 5pt baseline shift, inside the widened 50% tolerance but outside the
+/// original 20% one, with the second row starting just past where the first ends.
+#[test]
+fn equal_size_rows_need_the_tighter_tolerance_even_without_overlap() {
+    let doc = text_page("BT /F1 12 Tf 72 700 Td (Short line one) Tj 75 -5 Td (Second line two here) Tj ET");
+    let lines = text::text_lines(&doc, 0).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(lines.len(), 2);
+    assert_eq!(lines[0].size, lines[1].size, "same size: no super/subscript here");
+    let gap = lines[1].rect[0] - lines[0].rect[2];
+    assert!(gap >= 0.0, "no horizontal overlap: {gap}");
+    let baseline_shift = lines[0].rect[3] - lines[1].rect[3];
+    assert!((2.4..6.0).contains(&baseline_shift), "between the old and new vertical tolerance: {baseline_shift}");
+    let blocks = text::text_blocks(&doc, 0).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(blocks.len(), 2, "two separate rows stay two paragraphs, not one: {blocks:?}");
+}
diff --git a/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs b/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs
index 0baccc408..66c80fb06 100644
--- a/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs
+++ b/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs
@@ -74,12 +74,15 @@ fn group_layout(lines: &[TextLine], mixed: bool) -> Vec<TextBlock> {
                 // A superscript or subscript run (a footnote marker, say) sits on the same visual
                 // row as the text around it, raised or lowered by `Ts` from the body baseline
                 // (#3252). That shift is typically up to half the body size, not the marker's own
-                // smaller size — but only between runs with no horizontal overlap (`gap >= 0.0`):
-                // two stacked rows of ordinary body text can land within that wider tolerance too
-                // when horizontal compression (`Tz`) narrows the first row enough to overlap the
-                // second's start, and the tighter 20% tolerance is what keeps those apart.
+                // smaller size — but the wider tolerance only applies between a run and a
+                // distinctly smaller or larger one, with no horizontal overlap (`gap >= 0.0`):
+                // two equal-size runs can land within it too, at a baseline shift tight columns
+                // or compressed text (`Tz`) can produce between genuinely separate rows, and the
+                // original 20% tolerance is what keeps those apart.
                 && ((prev.frame_origin().1 - line.frame_origin().1).abs() < prev.size.min(line.size) * 0.2
-                    || (gap >= 0.0 && (prev.frame_origin().1 - line.frame_origin().1).abs() < prev.size.max(line.size) * 0.5))
+                    || (gap >= 0.0
+                        && prev.size.min(line.size) < prev.size.max(line.size) * 0.9
+                        && (prev.frame_origin().1 - line.frame_origin().1).abs() < prev.size.max(line.size) * 0.5))
                 && gap >= -prev.size.min(line.size) * 0.2
                 && gap < prev.size.max(line.size) * 1.5
                 // Separate same-style text objects that merely touch or overlap, with no space