diff --git a/lib/regex.js b/lib/regex.js
index 097cd1b..c0f2d6f 100644
--- a/lib/regex.js
+++ b/lib/regex.js
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ function getBreaksRegex(breakKeywords) {
   var re = '(';
   var maxIndex = breakKeywords.length - 1;
   forEach(breakKeywords, function(val, index) {
-    re += val;
-    if (index < maxIndex) {
-      re += '|';
+    if (val) {
+      re += val.trim();
+      if (index < maxIndex) {
+        re += '|';
+      }
     }
   });
   re += '):\\s([\\s\\S]*)';
@@ -18,9 +20,11 @@ function getClosesRegex(closeKeywords) {
   var re = '(?:';
   var maxIndex = closeKeywords.length - 1;
   forEach(closeKeywords, function(val, index) {
-    re += val;
-    if (index < maxIndex) {
-      re += '|';
+    if (val) {
+      re += val.trim();
+      if (index < maxIndex) {
+        re += '|';
+      }
     }
   });
   re += ')\\s((?:#\\d+(?:\\,\\s)?)+)';
diff --git a/test/regex.spec.js b/test/regex.spec.js
index cc7f3d6..2b51305 100644
--- a/test/regex.spec.js
+++ b/test/regex.spec.js
@@ -3,13 +3,27 @@ var expect = require('chai').expect;
 var regex = require('../lib/regex');
 
 describe('regex', function() {
-  it('getBreaksRegex', function() {
-    var re = regex.getBreaksRegex(['Breaking News', 'Breaking Change']);
-    expect(re).to.eql(/(Breaking News|Breaking Change):\s([\s\S]*)/);
+  describe('getBreaksRegex', function() {
+    it('should generate correct regex', function() {
+      var re = regex.getBreaksRegex(['Breaking News', 'Breaking Change']);
+      expect(re).to.eql(/(Breaking News|Breaking Change):\s([\s\S]*)/);
+    });
+
+    it('should ignore whitespace', function() {
+      var re = regex.getBreaksRegex([' Breaking News', 'Breaking Change ', '', ' Breaking SOLUTION ']);
+      expect(re).to.eql(/(Breaking News|Breaking Change|Breaking SOLUTION):\s([\s\S]*)/);
+    });
   });
 
-  it('getClosesRegex', function() {
-    var re = regex.getClosesRegex(['Closes', 'amends']);
-    expect(re).to.eql(/(?:Closes|amends)\s((?:#\d+(?:\,\s)?)+)/gi);
+  describe('getClosesRegex', function() {
+    it('should generate correct regex', function() {
+      var re = regex.getClosesRegex(['Closes', 'amends']);
+      expect(re).to.eql(/(?:Closes|amends)\s((?:#\d+(?:\,\s)?)+)/gi);
+    });
+
+    it('should ignore whitespace', function() {
+      var re = regex.getClosesRegex([' Closes', 'amends ', '', ' fixes ']);
+      expect(re).to.eql(/(?:Closes|amends|fixes)\s((?:#\d+(?:\,\s)?)+)/gi);
+    });
   });
 });