diff --git a/src/basic/extract-word.c b/src/basic/extract-word.c
index 34cfb36a4a..b7ae2ed1cd 100644
--- a/src/basic/extract-word.c
+++ b/src/basic/extract-word.c
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ int extract_first_word(const char **p, char **ret, const char *separators, Extra
 
         assert(p);
         assert(ret);
+        /* Those two don't make sense together. */
+        assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE|EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE));
 
         /* Bail early if called after last value or with no input */
         if (!*p)
diff --git a/src/libsystemd-network/network-internal.c b/src/libsystemd-network/network-internal.c
index 1f2e5c7e65..f18ec88300 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd-network/network-internal.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd-network/network-internal.c
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ int config_parse_match_strv(
         for (;;) {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *word = NULL, *k = NULL;
 
-                r = extract_first_word(&p, &word, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE|EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE);
+                r = extract_first_word(&p, &word, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE);
                 if (r == 0)
                         return 0;
                 if (r == -ENOMEM)
diff --git a/src/shared/conf-parser.c b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
index c27c499eda..62fc1c97b7 100644
--- a/src/shared/conf-parser.c
+++ b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
@@ -758,7 +758,7 @@ int config_parse_strv(
         for (;;) {
                 char *word = NULL;
 
-                r = extract_first_word(&rvalue, &word, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE|EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE);
+                r = extract_first_word(&rvalue, &word, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE);
                 if (r == 0)
                         break;
                 if (r == -ENOMEM)
diff --git a/src/test/test-extract-word.c b/src/test/test-extract-word.c
index f148b3e6f1..bf47a598a9 100644
--- a/src/test/test-extract-word.c
+++ b/src/test/test-extract-word.c
@@ -83,6 +83,30 @@ static void test_extract_first_word(void) {
         free(t);
         assert_se(isempty(p));
 
+        p = original = "KEY=val \"KEY2=val with space\" \"KEY3=val with \\\"quotation\\\"\"";
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "KEY=val"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "KEY2=val with space"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "KEY3=val with \"quotation\""));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(isempty(p));
+
+        p = original = "KEY=val \"KEY2=val space\" \"KEY3=val with \\\"quotation\\\"\"";
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "KEY=val"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "\"KEY2=val"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "space\""));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(startswith(p, "\"KEY3="));
+
         p = original = "\'fooo";
         assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE) == -EINVAL);
         assert_se(p == original + 5);