diff --git a/src/semble/ranking/boosting.py b/src/semble/ranking/boosting.py
index dd88f402..89b87c8d 100644
--- a/src/semble/ranking/boosting.py
+++ b/src/semble/ranking/boosting.py
@@ -267,6 +267,11 @@ def stem_ok(stem: str) -> bool:
     _boost_definitions(boosted, names, boost_unit, all_chunks, stem_ok)
 
 
+def _split_path_part(name: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Split a file stem or directory name, ignoring leading/trailing underscores (``__git`` -> ``git``)."""
+    return split_identifier(name.strip("_") or name)
+
+
 def _count_keyword_matches(keywords: set[str], parts: set[str]) -> int:
     """Count query keywords that match path parts, allowing prefix overlap (min 3 chars)."""
     exact = keywords & parts
@@ -303,9 +308,9 @@ def _boost_stem_matches(
     for chunk in list(boosted):
         if chunk.file_path not in path_cache:
             path = Path(chunk.file_path)
-            parts: set[str] = set(split_identifier(path.stem))
+            parts: set[str] = set(_split_path_part(path.stem))
             if path.parent.name and path.parent.name not in (".", "/", ".."):
-                parts.update(split_identifier(path.parent.name))
+                parts.update(_split_path_part(path.parent.name))
             path_cache[chunk.file_path] = parts
         n_matches = _count_keyword_matches(keywords, path_cache[chunk.file_path])
         if n_matches > 0:
diff --git a/tests/test_ranking.py b/tests/test_ranking.py
index 8407a355..9d872824 100644
--- a/tests/test_ranking.py
+++ b/tests/test_ranking.py
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@ def test_apply_query_boost_skips_non_matching_stem(query: str) -> None:
     [
         ("authenticate user session", "src/auth.py"),  # prefix / morphological match
         ("auth service", "src/auth_service.py"),  # every keyword exact-matches a stem part
+        ("git status", "lua/telescope/__git.lua"),  # leading underscores don't hide the stem
+        ("git status", "lua/telescope/git__.lua"),  # nor do trailing ones
     ],
 )
 def test_apply_query_boost_nl_stem_match_boosts(query: str, file_path: str) -> None: