diff --git a/packages/utils/src/emoji/cleanup.ts b/packages/utils/src/emoji/cleanup.ts
index 8d9b256..ce20aad 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/emoji/cleanup.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/emoji/cleanup.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import { getEmojiCodePoint } from './convert';
-import { emojiComponents, joinerEmoji, vs16Emoji } from './data';
-import { getEmojiSequenceKeyword } from './format';
+import { joinerEmoji, vs16Emoji } from './data';
 
 /**
  * Get emoji sequence from string
@@ -18,6 +17,32 @@ export function getEmojiSequenceFromString(value: string): number[] {
 		.map(getEmojiCodePoint);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Convert emoji sequence or keyword
+ *
+ * If sequence is characters list, like '1f441-fe0f', it will be converted to [0x1f441, 0xfe0f]
+ * If sequence contains anything other than [0-9A-F-\s], it will be converted character by character
+ *
+ * This is used to treat keywords, like ':cat:' differently when converting strings to sequences
+ */
+export function getSequenceFromEmojiStringOrKeyword(value: string): number[] {
+	if (!value.match(/^[0-9a-fA-F-\s]+$/)) {
+		// Treat as string
+		const results: number[] = [];
+		for (const codePoint of value) {
+			const code = codePoint.codePointAt(0);
+			if (code) {
+				results.push(code);
+			} else {
+				// Something went wrong
+				return getEmojiSequenceFromString(value);
+			}
+		}
+		return results;
+	}
+	return getEmojiSequenceFromString(value);
+}
+
 /**
  * Split emoji sequence by joiner
  *
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/base.ts b/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/base.ts
index 46f3384..3b044d0 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/base.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/base.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import { getEmojiUnicodeString, UnicodeFormattingOptions } from '../format';
-
 /**
  * Regex in item
  */
@@ -90,22 +88,34 @@ export type EmojiItemRegex =
 	| SetEmojiItemRegex
 	| OptionalEmojiItemRegex;
 
-/**
- * Options for converting number to string
- */
-const numberToStringOptions: Partial<UnicodeFormattingOptions> = {
-	prefix: '\\u',
-	separator: '',
-	case: 'upper',
-	format: 'utf-16',
-	add0: true,
-};
-
 /**
  * Convert number to string
  */
 function toString(number: number): string {
-	return getEmojiUnicodeString(number, numberToStringOptions);
+	if (number < 255) {
+		// Hex or character
+		if (number > 32 && number < 127) {
+			// Character
+			const char = String.fromCharCode(number);
+			if (
+				// 0-9
+				(number > 47 && number < 58) ||
+				// A-Z
+				(number > 64 && number < 91) ||
+				// _`a-z
+				(number > 94 && number < 123)
+			) {
+				return char;
+			}
+			return '\\' + char;
+		}
+		return (
+			'\\x' + (number < 16 ? '0' : '') + number.toString(16).toUpperCase()
+		);
+	}
+
+	// Unicode
+	return '\\u' + number.toString(16).toUpperCase();
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/create.ts b/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/create.ts
index 26bbed9..54dd005 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/create.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/emoji/regex/create.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { getEmojiSequenceFromString } from '../cleanup';
+import { getSequenceFromEmojiStringOrKeyword } from '../cleanup';
 import { convertEmojiSequenceToUTF32 } from '../convert';
 import { getQualifiedEmojiVariations } from '../test/variations';
 import { createEmojisTree, parseEmojiTree } from './tree';
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ export function createOptimisedRegex(
 ): string {
 	// Convert to numbers
 	let sequences = emojis.map((item) =>
-		typeof item === 'string' ? getEmojiSequenceFromString(item) : item
+		typeof item === 'string'
+			? getSequenceFromEmojiStringOrKeyword(item)
+			: item
 	);
 
 	// Add variations
diff --git a/packages/utils/tests/emoji-regex-test.ts b/packages/utils/tests/emoji-regex-test.ts
index 2f1301f..160a99a 100644
--- a/packages/utils/tests/emoji-regex-test.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/tests/emoji-regex-test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,23 @@ E1.0 grinning face: ${String.fromCodePoint(0x1f600)}
 		expect(matches?.[1]).toBe(String.fromCodePoint(0x1f603));
 	});
 
+	it('Keywords', () => {
+		const regexValue = createOptimisedRegex([
+			':cat:',
+			':gray_cat:',
+			':tabby_cat:',
+		]);
+
+		const matches = `
+Cat: :cat:
+Tabby cat: :tabby_cat:
+`.match(new RegExp(regexValue, 'g'));
+
+		expect(matches?.length).toBe(2);
+		expect(matches?.[0]).toBe(':cat:');
+		expect(matches?.[1]).toBe(':tabby_cat:');
+	});
+
 	it('Sequences', () => {
 		const regexValue = createOptimisedRegex([
 			// Emoji with optional variation