diff --git a/cli/src/cli/complete_word.rs b/cli/src/cli/complete_word.rs
index 168e96ff..41454a7f 100644
--- a/cli/src/cli/complete_word.rs
+++ b/cli/src/cli/complete_word.rs
@@ -98,7 +98,19 @@ impl CompleteWord {
             ctx.insert("PREV", &(cword - 1));
         }
 
-        let parsed = usage::parse::parse_partial(spec, &words)?;
+        // The words before the cursor may not parse (e.g. an unexpected word
+        // earlier on the line). A completion helper must stay silent rather than
+        // surface a hard parse error to stderr, which garbles the shell prompt
+        // mid-completion — emit no candidates instead. (#596)
+        let parsed = match usage::parse::parse_partial(spec, &words) {
+            Ok(parsed) => parsed,
+            Err(e) => {
+                debug!(
+                    "parse_partial failed during completion (words: {words:?}), no candidates: {e}"
+                );
+                return Ok(vec![]);
+            }
+        };
         debug!("parsed cmd: {}", parsed.cmd.full_cmd.join(" "));
 
         // Check if previous token was a restart_token - if so, complete from first arg
diff --git a/cli/tests/complete_word.rs b/cli/tests/complete_word.rs
index 370f7260..5d26c468 100644
--- a/cli/tests/complete_word.rs
+++ b/cli/tests/complete_word.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,21 @@ fn complete_word_completer() {
         .stdout("plugin-1\tdesc\nplugin-2\tdesc\nplugin-3\tdesc\n");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn complete_word_after_unexpected_word_is_silent() {
+    // #596: completion after an unexpected word must NOT print a hard parse error
+    // to stderr (which garbles the shell prompt) — the helper should exit 0 with
+    // no candidates instead.
+    let spec = "name \"mycli\"\ncmd \"build\"\ncmd \"test\"\n";
+    Command::new(cargo::cargo_bin!("usage"))
+        .args([
+            "cw", "--shell", "bash", "--spec", spec, "--", "mycli", "help", "",
+        ])
+        .assert()
+        .success()
+        .stdout("");
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn complete_word_subcommands() {
     assert_cmd("basic.usage.kdl", &["plugins", "install"]).stdout(contains("install"));
@@ -258,11 +273,14 @@ fn complete_word_non_global_flags_stop_search() {
     path.insert(0, env::current_dir().unwrap().join("..").join("examples"));
     env::set_var("PATH", env::join_paths(path).unwrap());
 
-    // Non-global flag --local should stop subcommand search
-    // The parser will fail to recognize 'run' as a subcommand and error
+    // Non-global flag --local stops the subcommand search, so 'run' is not
+    // recognized as a subcommand. Completion must still exit cleanly with no
+    // candidates — NOT surface a hard parse error to stderr, which would garble
+    // the shell prompt (#596). (Previously this asserted .failure() with
+    // "unexpected word", which was the bug.)
     let mut cmd = cmd("test-boolean-flags.sh", Some("fish"));
     cmd.args(["--", "--local", "run", ""]);
-    cmd.assert().failure().stderr(contains("unexpected word"));
+    cmd.assert().success().stdout("");
 }
 
 #[test]