diff --git a/kitty/key_encoding.c b/kitty/key_encoding.c
index 52c01d7eb..eb69e5fcc 100644
--- a/kitty/key_encoding.c
+++ b/kitty/key_encoding.c
@@ -296,18 +296,38 @@ is_legacy_ascii_key(uint32_t key) {
     switch (key) {
         case 'a' ... 'z':
         case '0' ... '9':
+        case '!':
+        case '@':
+        case '#':
+        case '$':
+        case '%':
+        case '^':
+        case '&':
+        case '*':
+        case '(':
+        case ')':
         case '`':
+        case '~':
         case '-':
+        case '_':
         case '=':
+        case '+':
         case '[':
+        case '{':
         case ']':
+        case '}':
         case '\\':
+        case '|':
         case ';':
         case ':':
         case '\'':
+        case '"':
         case ',':
+        case '<':
         case '.':
+        case '>':
         case '/':
+        case '?':
         case ' ':
             return true;
         default:
diff --git a/kitty_tests/keys.py b/kitty_tests/keys.py
index c7a6f32c6..23f06c951 100644
--- a/kitty_tests/keys.py
+++ b/kitty_tests/keys.py
@@ -392,7 +392,8 @@ def a(a, b):
         # }}}
 
         ae(enc(key=ord(':'), shifted_key=ord('/'), mods=shift | alt), '\x1b/')
-        ae(enc(key=ord(':'), mods=alt), '\x1b:')
+        for key in '~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:"<>?':
+            ae(enc(key=ord(key), mods=alt), '\x1b' + key)
         ae(enc(key=ord(' ')), ' ')
         ae(enc(key=ord(' '), mods=ctrl), '\0')
         ae(enc(key=ord(' '), mods=alt), '\x1b ')