diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fb4c1a69425..0f2aac4a28e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@
     "@grafana/flamegraph": "workspace:*",
     "@grafana/google-sdk": "0.1.1",
     "@grafana/lezer-logql": "0.2.1",
-    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "0.0.10",
+    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "0.0.11",
     "@grafana/monaco-logql": "^0.0.7",
     "@grafana/runtime": "workspace:*",
     "@grafana/scenes": "1.24.1",
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx
index 86f382184d2..f8e21f40bd0 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ import { computeErrorMessage, getErrorNodes } from './errorHighlighting';
 describe('Check for syntax errors in query', () => {
   it.each([
     ['{span.http.status_code = }', 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.'],
-    ['{span.http.status_code 200}', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
-    ['{span.http.status_code ""}', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
-    ['{span.http.status_code @ 200}', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{span.http.status_code 200}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{span.http.status_code ""}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{span.http.status_code @ 200}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
     ['{span.http.status_code span.http.status_code}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
     [
       '{span.http.status_code = 200} {span.http.status_code = 200}',
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ describe('Check for syntax errors in query', () => {
     ['{ .a && }', 'Invalid value after logical operator.'],
     ['{ .a || }', 'Invalid value after logical operator.'],
     ['{ .a + }', 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.'],
-    ['{ 200 = 200 200 }', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
-    ['{.foo   300}', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{ 200 = 200 200 }', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{.foo   300}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
     ['{.foo  300 && .bar = 200}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
     ['{.foo  300 && .bar  200}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
     ['{.foo=1}  {.bar=2}', 'Invalid spanset combining operator after spanset expression.'],
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ describe('Check for syntax errors in query', () => {
     ['{.foo=300} && {.foo=300} | avg(.value) =', 'Invalid value after comparison operator.'],
     ['{.foo=300} | max(duration) > 1hs', 'Invalid value after comparison operator.'],
     ['{ span.http.status_code', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{ .foo = "bar"', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
     ['abcxyz', 'Invalid query.'],
   ])('error message for invalid query - %s, %s', (query: string, expectedErrorMessage: string) => {
     const errorNode = getErrorNodes(query)[0];
@@ -80,6 +81,9 @@ describe('Check for syntax errors in query', () => {
       `{ true } /* && { false } && */ && { true } // && { false }
     && { true }`,
     ],
+    ['{span.s"t\\"at"us}'],
+    ['{span.s"t\\\\at"us}'],
+    ['{ span.s"tat"us" = "GET123 }'], // weird query, but technically valid
   ])('valid query - %s', (query: string) => {
     expect(getErrorNodes(query)).toStrictEqual([]);
   });
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts
index c077ebcd32d..e93dda447bf 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts
@@ -73,15 +73,32 @@ export const language: languages.IMonarchLanguage = {
       // trace ID
       [/^\s*[0-9A-Fa-f]+\s*$/, 'tag'],
 
-      // functions, keywords, predefined values
+      // keywords
       [
-        /[a-zA-Z_.]\w*/,
+        // match only predefined keywords
+        `(?:${keywords.join('|')})`,
+        {
+          cases: {
+            '@keywords': 'keyword',
+            '@default': 'tag', // fallback, but should never happen
+          },
+        },
+      ],
+
+      // functions and predefined values
+      [
+        // If not inside quotes, namely outside of open and closed `"`,
+        // allow only word characters (those matching `\w`) and full stop (`.`).
+        //
+        // If inside quotes, e.g. `"here"`, allow for any character, except for `"` and `\` which must be
+        // escaped with a backslash (`\"` and `\\` respectively).
+        // Quotes can be used to support special tag names, such as those with spaces (e.g., `my tag`).
+        /(?:\w|[.]|"(?:\\"|\\\\|[^\\"])*")+/,
         {
           cases: {
             '@functions': 'predefined',
-            '@keywords': 'keyword',
             '@statusValues': 'type',
-            '@default': 'tag',
+            '@default': 'tag', // fallback, used for tag names
           },
         },
       ],
@@ -89,8 +106,8 @@ export const language: languages.IMonarchLanguage = {
       // strings
       [/"([^"\\]|\\.)*$/, 'string.invalid'], // non-teminated string
       [/'([^'\\]|\\.)*$/, 'string.invalid'], // non-teminated string
-      [/"/, 'string', '@string_double'],
-      [/'/, 'string', '@string_single'],
+      [/([^\w])(")/, [{ token: '' }, { token: 'string', next: '@string_double' }]],
+      [/([^\w])(')/, [{ token: '' }, { token: 'string', next: '@string_single' }]],
 
       // delimiters and operators
       [/[{}()\[\]]/, 'delimiter.bracket'],
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 11e1256a044..9c0caf3dc47 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3224,12 +3224,12 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.10":
-  version: 0.0.10
-  resolution: "@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.10"
+"@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.11":
+  version: 0.0.11
+  resolution: "@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.11"
   peerDependencies:
     "@lezer/lr": ^1.3.0
-  checksum: 9335458543a5155a4ece6a0d526dd78d8dba087f197b19ca80546529a39a107d62d4d0faa3fabc3f4d5caefc173cb1a6b93650a471101d34a0ee1c8f7c348de0
+  checksum: cb312cf8f0cf70af6eb307aa0b6478cd8bde9233f281d6f4bb385f3c846a1e9fe0caf8addef5cbc0ccadb57b968fbd10e26ad5df6f898fb2b174536dca924926
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
@@ -17311,7 +17311,7 @@ __metadata:
     "@grafana/flamegraph": "workspace:*"
     "@grafana/google-sdk": "npm:0.1.1"
     "@grafana/lezer-logql": "npm:0.2.1"
-    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "npm:0.0.10"
+    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "npm:0.0.11"
     "@grafana/monaco-logql": "npm:^0.0.7"
     "@grafana/runtime": "workspace:*"
     "@grafana/scenes": "npm:1.24.1"