diff --git a/src/uu/ptx/locales/en-US.ftl b/src/uu/ptx/locales/en-US.ftl
index 402b2702b47..c7362122447 100644
--- a/src/uu/ptx/locales/en-US.ftl
+++ b/src/uu/ptx/locales/en-US.ftl
@@ -28,3 +28,4 @@ ptx-error-dumb-format = There is no dumb format with GNU extensions disabled
 ptx-error-not-implemented = { $feature } not implemented yet
 ptx-error-write-failed = write failed
 ptx-error-extra-operand = extra operand { $operand }
+ptx-invalid-regular-expression = invalid regular expression: { $error }
diff --git a/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs b/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs
index 28d19cdbdfd..0a96dc6c6f8 100644
--- a/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs
+++ b/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ use clap::{Arg, ArgAction, Command};
 use regex::Regex;
 use thiserror::Error;
 use uucore::display::Quotable;
-use uucore::error::{FromIo, UError, UResult, UUsageError};
+use uucore::error::{FromIo, UError, UResult, USimpleError, UUsageError};
 use uucore::format_usage;
 use uucore::translate;
 
@@ -301,9 +301,15 @@ fn read_input(input_files: &[OsString]) -> std::io::Result<FileMap> {
 }
 
 /// Go through every lines in the input files and record each match occurrence as a `WordRef`.
-fn create_word_set(config: &Config, filter: &WordFilter, file_map: &FileMap) -> BTreeSet<WordRef> {
-    let reg = Regex::new(&filter.word_regex).unwrap();
-    let ref_reg = Regex::new(&config.context_regex).unwrap();
+fn create_word_set(
+    config: &Config,
+    filter: &WordFilter,
+    file_map: &FileMap,
+) -> UResult<BTreeSet<WordRef>> {
+    let reg = Regex::new(&filter.word_regex)
+        .map_err(|e| USimpleError::new(1, translate!("ptx-invalid-regular-expression", "error" => e)))?;
+    let ref_reg = Regex::new(&config.context_regex)
+        .map_err(|e| USimpleError::new(1, translate!("ptx-invalid-regular-expression", "error" => e)))?;
     let mut word_set: BTreeSet<WordRef> = BTreeSet::new();
     for (file, lines) in file_map {
         let mut count: usize = 0;
@@ -342,7 +348,7 @@ fn create_word_set(config: &Config, filter: &WordFilter, file_map: &FileMap) ->
             count += 1;
         }
     }
-    word_set
+    Ok(word_set)
 }
 
 fn get_reference(config: &Config, word_ref: &WordRef, line: &str, context_reg: &Regex) -> String {
@@ -884,7 +890,7 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
 
     let word_filter = WordFilter::new(&matches, &config)?;
     let file_map = read_input(&input_files).map_err_context(String::new)?;
-    let word_set = create_word_set(&config, &word_filter, &file_map);
+    let word_set = create_word_set(&config, &word_filter, &file_map)?;
     write_traditional_output(&mut config, &file_map, &word_set, &output_file)
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs b/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs
index c9ecb5c22e2..7859f9bcc79 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs
@@ -301,3 +301,19 @@ fn test_unicode_truncation_alignment() {
         .succeeds()
         .stdout_only("     /   bar\n        föö/\n");
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_invalid_regex_word_trailing_backslash() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["-W", "bar\\"])
+        .fails_with_code(1)
+        .stderr_contains("ptx: invalid regular expression");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_invalid_regex_word_unclosed_group() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["-W", "(wrong"])
+        .fails_with_code(1)
+        .stderr_contains("ptx: invalid regular expression");
+}
\ No newline at end of file