diff --git a/flang/lib/Parser/prescan.cpp b/flang/lib/Parser/prescan.cpp
index 3bc2ea0b37508..9aef0c9981e3c 100644
--- a/flang/lib/Parser/prescan.cpp
+++ b/flang/lib/Parser/prescan.cpp
@@ -1473,7 +1473,7 @@ const char *Prescanner::FreeFormContinuationLine(bool ampersand) {
             GetProvenanceRange(p, p + 1),
             "Character literal continuation line should have been preceded by '&'"_port_en_US);
       }
-    } else if (p > lineStart) {
+    } else if (p > lineStart && IsSpaceOrTab(p - 1)) {
       --p;
     } else {
       insertASpace_ = true;
diff --git a/flang/test/Preprocessing/bug890.F90 b/flang/test/Preprocessing/bug890.F90
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0ce2d8c3f1569
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flang/test/Preprocessing/bug890.F90
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+! RUN: %flang -E %s 2>&1 | FileCheck %s
+!CHECK: subroutine sub()
+#define empty
+subroutine sub ( &
+  empty)
+end