diff --git a/internal/handlers/koreader.go b/internal/handlers/koreader.go
index 1e786ecc..21bae124 100644
--- a/internal/handlers/koreader.go
+++ b/internal/handlers/koreader.go
@@ -93,7 +93,22 @@ func (h *KOReaderHandler) convertHighlightPositions(ec annotationEpub, pos0, pos
 	if pos0 == "" || !ec.convertible() {
 		return "", ""
 	}
-	startLoc := wsync.ConvertToCanonical(wsync.LocatorSourceKOReader, pos0, percentage, contextText, ec.mediaItem.FormatGroup, ec.epubPath, "")
+	// Primary: anchor both endpoints by the selection text itself. One
+	// document match yields a same-spine ordered pair — the invariant the
+	// web reader's range-CFI builder needs. Independent per-endpoint
+	// conversion mis-anchors any selection past a block's first text node
+	// (crengine text-node indices don't survive to the raw XHTML).
+	startLoc := wsync.ConvertHighlightRangeToCanonical(ec.epubPath, ec.mediaItem.FormatGroup, pos0, pos1, contextText, percentage)
+	if startLoc.Precision == "exact" || startLoc.Precision == "structural" {
+		startCFI := webUsableCFI(startLoc)
+		endCFI := ""
+		if startCFI != "" && startLoc.EndCFI != "" {
+			endCFI = webUsableCFI(wsync.CanonicalLocator{CFI: startLoc.EndCFI, Precision: startLoc.Precision})
+		}
+		return startCFI, endCFI
+	}
+	// Fallback: legacy independent per-endpoint conversion.
+	startLoc = wsync.ConvertToCanonical(wsync.LocatorSourceKOReader, pos0, percentage, contextText, ec.mediaItem.FormatGroup, ec.epubPath, "")
 	startCFI := webUsableCFI(startLoc)
 	endCFI := ""
 	// A text-search start matched the selection text itself: its extent
diff --git a/internal/sync/cfi_converter.go b/internal/sync/cfi_converter.go
index 4a4c1416..e6bb4d66 100644
--- a/internal/sync/cfi_converter.go
+++ b/internal/sync/cfi_converter.go
@@ -626,7 +626,12 @@ func flattenDocumentForSearch(body *html.Node) ([]rune, []docRunePos) {
 		lastBlock = block
 		off := 0
 		for _, r := range n.Data {
-			if unicode.IsSpace(r) {
+			// Zero-width format characters are line-break opportunities,
+			// not word characters: devices render them as breaks and
+			// capture plain spaces, so they must not fuse words in the
+			// search stream. ZWJ (U+200D) is exempt — it glues emoji
+			// sequences.
+			if unicode.IsSpace(r) || r == '\u200b' || r == '\u200c' || r == '\ufeff' {
 				pendingSpace = true
 			} else {
 				if pendingSpace && len(runes) > 0 {
@@ -644,9 +649,12 @@ func flattenDocumentForSearch(body *html.Node) ([]rune, []docRunePos) {
 	var walk func(n *html.Node)
 	walk = func(n *html.Node) {
 		if n.Type == html.TextNode {
-			if strings.TrimSpace(n.Data) != "" {
-				appendNode(n)
-			}
+			// Whitespace-only nodes still participate: a space carried in
+			// its own inline span (<span class="sp"> </span>) is a real
+			// word separator, and skipping it fuses adjacent words in the
+			// search stream. appendNode turns such nodes into pending
+			// space without emitting anything.
+			appendNode(n)
 			return
 		}
 		for c := n.FirstChild; c != nil; c = c.NextSibling {
diff --git a/internal/sync/cfi_highlight_range.go b/internal/sync/cfi_highlight_range.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..854d2e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/sync/cfi_highlight_range.go
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+package sync
+
+// Text-anchored range conversion for device highlights.
+//
+// Why this exists: CRE xpointers address text as text()[N].offset, but
+// crengine's text-node enumeration does not survive to the raw XHTML on
+// disk (whitespace runs, entity merges, live-DOM splits), and the trailing
+// offset alone lands at a global block offset that is wrong for any anchor
+// past the first text node of a block. Converting pos0 and pos1
+// independently made it worse: mismatched start/end base paths and
+// backwards ranges — highlights that store but never paint (or paint in
+// the wrong place) in the web reader.
+//
+// The device's selection text, however, is a quote of the document. So for
+// highlights we anchor BOTH endpoints by locating that quote in the
+// flattened document text (whitespace-normalized, crossing block
+// boundaries), and use the device locators only as disambiguation hints
+// when the quote occurs more than once. Endpoints derived from one match
+// are same-spine and ordered by construction — the two properties the
+// reader's range-CFI builder needs.
+
+import (
+	"log"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+
+	"golang.org/x/net/html"
+)
+
+// ConvertHighlightRange resolves a highlight's pos0/pos1 pair into a start
+// CFI plus a true range end by locating the selection text in the document.
+// It returns nil when the text cannot be located; callers fall back to the
+// legacy per-endpoint conversion.
+func (c *CFIConverter) ConvertHighlightRange(pos0, pos1, contextText string, storedPercentage float64) *ConversionResult {
+	if !IsCREXPointer(pos0) {
+		return nil
+	}
+	xp, err := ParseCREXPointer(pos0)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	doc, href, err := c.getContentDoc(xp.FragmentIndex)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	body := findBody(doc)
+	if body == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	spineIndex := xp.FragmentIndex - 1
+
+	// KOReader wraps partial-paragraph captures in curly braces; they are
+	// wire markers, not document text. Zero-width format characters in the
+	// capture are break opportunities the device rendered — normalize to
+	// spaces so both sides of the match agree.
+	ctx := normalizeWhitespace(strings.Trim(contextText, "{}"))
+	ctx = strings.NewReplacer("\u200b", " ", "\u200c", " ", "\ufeff", " ").Replace(ctx)
+	ctx = normalizeWhitespace(ctx)
+	if ctx == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	runes, poss := flattenDocumentForSearch(body)
+	text := string(runes)
+
+	words := strings.Fields(ctx)
+	quoted := make([]string, len(words))
+	for i, w := range words {
+		quoted[i] = regexp.QuoteMeta(w)
+	}
+	re, err := regexp.Compile(strings.Join(quoted, `\s+`))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	matches := re.FindAllStringIndex(text, -1)
+	if len(matches) == 0 {
+		log.Printf("Bookhoard: highlight range: selection %q not found in %s", truncateForLog(ctx, 60), href)
+		return nil
+	}
+	loc := pickHighlightMatch(matches, text, poss, xp, pos1, body)
+	if len(matches) > 1 {
+		log.Printf("Bookhoard: highlight range: %d matches for %q in %s, resolved by device hint", len(matches), truncateForLog(ctx, 40), href)
+	}
+
+	startRune := utf8.RuneCountInString(text[:loc[0]])
+	endRune := utf8.RuneCountInString(text[:loc[1]]) // exclusive
+
+	startPos := poss[startRune]
+	startCFI, err := buildCFI(spineIndex, startPos.node, startPos.off)
+	if err != nil || startCFI == "" {
+		log.Printf("Bookhoard: highlight range: buildCFI(start) failed: %v", err)
+		return nil
+	}
+	endCFI := ""
+	if endRune > startRune && endRune <= len(poss) {
+		endPos := poss[endRune-1]
+		endOff := endPos.off + 1
+		if n := utf8.RuneCountInString(endPos.node.Data); endOff > n {
+			endOff = n
+		}
+		if ec, err := buildCFI(spineIndex, endPos.node, endOff); err == nil && ec != "" {
+			endCFI = ec
+		}
+	}
+
+	log.Printf("Bookhoard: highlight range %q → %s (precision: exact)", truncateForLog(ctx, 60), startCFI)
+	return &ConversionResult{
+		EPUBCFI:    startCFI,
+		EndEPUBCFI: endCFI,
+		Href:       href,
+		Percentage: storedPercentage,
+		Precision:  "exact",
+	}
+}
+
+// pickHighlightMatch chooses among multiple occurrences of the selection.
+// pos1's element path (the end anchor's landing block) is the strongest
+// hint: the true occurrence is the one whose extent stays inside that
+// block. Without a usable hint, document order wins (first occurrence).
+func pickHighlightMatch(matches [][]int, text string, poss []docRunePos, xp *CREXPointer, pos1 string, body *html.Node) []int {
+	if len(matches) <= 1 {
+		return matches[0]
+	}
+	if xp1, err := ParseCREXPointer(pos1); err == nil && len(xp1.ElementPath) > 0 {
+		if elem := resolveCREElementPath(body, xp1.ElementPath); elem != nil {
+			lo, hi := elementFlatRange(poss, elem)
+			if lo >= 0 {
+				for _, m := range matches {
+					s := utf8.RuneCountInString(text[:m[0]])
+					e := utf8.RuneCountInString(text[:m[1]]) - 1
+					if s >= lo && e < hi {
+						return m
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return matches[0]
+}
+
+// elementFlatRange returns the [lo, hi) rune range of the flattened stream
+// covered by elem's subtree, or (-1, 0) when elem contributes no text.
+func elementFlatRange(poss []docRunePos, elem *html.Node) (int, int) {
+	lo, hi := -1, -1
+	for i, p := range poss {
+		if isDescendantNode(p.node, elem) {
+			if lo < 0 {
+				lo = i
+			}
+			hi = i + 1
+		}
+	}
+	if lo < 0 {
+		return -1, 0
+	}
+	return lo, hi
+}
+
+func isDescendantNode(n, ancestor *html.Node) bool {
+	for p := n.Parent; p != nil; p = p.Parent {
+		if p == ancestor {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/internal/sync/locators.go b/internal/sync/locators.go
index 9f81e2d0..0e2a2ae1 100644
--- a/internal/sync/locators.go
+++ b/internal/sync/locators.go
@@ -125,6 +125,38 @@ func ConvertToCanonical(
 	}
 }
 
+// ConvertHighlightRangeToCanonical is the highlight-specific twin of
+// ConvertToCanonical: it anchors a device highlight's pos0/pos1 pair by the
+// selection text so both endpoints derive from one document match — same
+// spine, ordered — instead of two independent structural landings. Returns
+// a "fallback" locator with an empty CFI when the text cannot be located;
+// callers fall back to ConvertToCanonical per endpoint.
+func ConvertHighlightRangeToCanonical(
+	epubPath string,
+	formatGroup string,
+	pos0 string,
+	pos1 string,
+	contextText string,
+	percentage float64,
+) CanonicalLocator {
+	if !isConvertible(formatGroup) || epubPath == "" {
+		return CanonicalLocator{CFI: pos0, Precision: "passthrough", Percentage: percentage}
+	}
+	if !IsCREXPointer(pos0) {
+		return CanonicalLocator{CFI: pos0, Precision: "already-standard", Percentage: percentage}
+	}
+	result := cachedConverter(epubPath).ConvertHighlightRange(pos0, pos1, contextText, percentage)
+	if result == nil || result.EPUBCFI == "" {
+		return CanonicalLocator{CFI: "", Precision: "fallback", Percentage: percentage}
+	}
+	return CanonicalLocator{
+		CFI:        result.EPUBCFI,
+		EndCFI:     result.EndEPUBCFI,
+		Precision:  result.Precision,
+		Percentage: result.Percentage,
+	}
+}
+
 func ConvertFromCanonical(
 	source LocatorSource,
 	canonicalCFI string,