diff --git a/ChangeLog.adoc b/ChangeLog.adoc
index e91bd2ab2..cfa59545a 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.adoc
+++ b/ChangeLog.adoc
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ https://weechat.org/files/releasenotes/ReleaseNotes-devel.html[release notes]
 
 Bug fixes::
 
+  * spell: fix refresh of bar item "spell_suggest" when the input becomes empty (issue #1586)
   * spell: fix crash with IRC color codes in command line (issue #1589)
 
 [[v3.0]]
diff --git a/src/plugins/spell/spell.c b/src/plugins/spell/spell.c
index 4ecd3a433..868e3f12c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/spell/spell.c
+++ b/src/plugins/spell/spell.c
@@ -802,7 +802,7 @@ spell_modifier_cb (const void *pointer, void *data,
     color_error = weechat_color (weechat_config_string (spell_config_color_misspelled));
 
     length = strlen (string);
-    result = weechat_string_dyn_alloc (length * 2);
+    result = weechat_string_dyn_alloc ((length * 2) + 1);
     if (!result)
         return NULL;