diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py b/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
index 9ec14388f..b821e43c7 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
@@ -1068,12 +1068,16 @@ class WordHinter:
         return any(hint.startswith(e) or e.startswith(hint)
                    for e in existing)
 
-    def new_hint_for(self, elem, existing):
+    def filter_prefixes(self, hints, existing):
+        return (h for h in hints if not self.any_prefix(h, existing))
+
+    def new_hint_for(self, elem, existing, fallback):
         """Return a hint for elem, not conflicting with the existing."""
         new = self.tag_words_to_hints(self.extract_tag_words(elem))
-        no_prefixes = (h for h in new if not self.any_prefix(h, existing))
+        new_no_prefixes = self.filter_prefixes(new, existing)
+        fallback_no_prefixes = self.filter_prefixes(fallback, existing)
         # either the first good, or None
-        return next(no_prefixes, None)
+        return next(new_no_prefixes, next(fallback_no_prefixes))
 
     def hint(self, elems):
         """Produce hint labels based on the html tags.
@@ -1093,7 +1097,7 @@ class WordHinter:
         used_hints = set()
         words = iter(self.words)
         for elem in elems:
-            hint = self.new_hint_for(elem, used_hints) or next(words)
+            hint = self.new_hint_for(elem, used_hints, words)
             used_hints.add(hint)
             hints.append(hint)
         return hints