diff --git a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h
--- a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h
+++ b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
  * @brief Matches a path against a list of search fragments.
  * @return -1 when no match is found, otherwise a positive integer, higher values mean lower quality
  */
-KDEVPLATFORMLANGUAGE_EXPORT int matchPathFilter(const Path& toFilter, const QStringList& text);
+KDEVPLATFORMLANGUAGE_EXPORT int matchPathFilter(const Path& toFilter, const QStringList& text, const Path& prefixPath);
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp
--- a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp
+++ b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@
   return matchedFragments == typedFragments.size();
 }
 
-int matchPathFilter(const Path &toFilter, const QStringList &text)
+int matchPathFilter(const Path &toFilter, const QStringList &text, const Path &prefixPath)
 {
     enum PathFilterMatchQuality {
       NoMatch = -1,
@@ -216,14 +216,20 @@
         return NoMatch;
     }
 
-    // prefer matches whose last element starts with the filter
-    if (allMatched) {
-      return ExactMatch;
+    const int segmentMatchDistance = segments.size() - (pathIndex + 1);
+    const bool inPrefixPath = segmentMatchDistance > (segments.size() - prefixPath.segments().size())
+                                && prefixPath.isParentOf(toFilter);
+    // penalize matches that fall into the shared suffix
+    const int penalty = (inPrefixPath ) ? 1024 : 0;
+
+    if (allMatched && !inPrefixPath) {
+      return ExactMatch + penalty;
     } else if (lastMatchIndex == 0) {
-        return StartMatch;
+        // prefer matches whose last element starts with the filter
+        return StartMatch + penalty;
     } else {
         // prefer matches closer to the end of the path
-        return OtherMatch + segments.size() - pathIndex;
+        return OtherMatch + segmentMatchDistance + penalty;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h
--- a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h
+++ b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h
@@ -197,7 +197,8 @@
         QVector<QPair<int, int>> matches;
         for (int i = 0, c = filterBase.size(); i < c; ++i) {
             const auto& data = filterBase.at(i);
-            const auto matchQuality = matchPathFilter(static_cast<Parent*>(this)->itemPath(data), text);
+            const auto matchQuality = matchPathFilter(static_cast<Parent*>(this)->itemPath(data), text,
+                                                      static_cast<Parent*>(this)->itemPrefixPath(data));
             if (matchQuality == -1) {
                 continue;
             }
diff --git a/plugins/quickopen/projectfilequickopen.h b/plugins/quickopen/projectfilequickopen.h
--- a/plugins/quickopen/projectfilequickopen.h
+++ b/plugins/quickopen/projectfilequickopen.h
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@
     {
         return data.path;
     }
+
+    inline KDevelop::Path itemPrefixPath(const ProjectFile& data) const
+    {
+        return data.projectPath;
+    }
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/plugins/quickopen/tests/quickopentestbase.h b/plugins/quickopen/tests/quickopentestbase.h
--- a/plugins/quickopen/tests/quickopentestbase.h
+++ b/plugins/quickopen/tests/quickopentestbase.h
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@
     {
         return KDevelop::Path(data);
     }
+    KDevelop::Path itemPrefixPath(const QString& /*data*/) const
+    {
+        return KDevelop::Path(QStringLiteral("/home/user/project"));
+    }
 };
 
 KDevelop::TestProject* getProjectWithFiles(int files);
diff --git a/plugins/quickopen/tests/test_quickopen.cpp b/plugins/quickopen/tests/test_quickopen.cpp
--- a/plugins/quickopen/tests/test_quickopen.cpp
+++ b/plugins/quickopen/tests/test_quickopen.cpp
@@ -247,6 +247,30 @@
         QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_a_user") << a << QStringLiteral("user") << a;
         QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_b_user") << b << QStringLiteral("user") << a;
     }
+    {
+        const StringList a = {
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/A/file"),
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/B/project/A/file"),
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/user/C/D/E"),
+        };
+        const StringList b = {
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/B/project/A/file"),
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/A/file"),
+        };
+        const StringList c = {
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/user/C/D/E"),
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/A/file"),
+            QStringLiteral("/home/user/project/B/project/A/file"),
+        };
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_a_project/file") << a << QStringLiteral("project/file") << b;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_b_project/file") << b << QStringLiteral("project/file") << b;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_a_project/le") << a << QStringLiteral("project/le") << b;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_b_project/le") << b << QStringLiteral("project/le") << b;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_a_project/a/file") << a << QStringLiteral("project/a/file") << b;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_b_project/a/file") << b << QStringLiteral("project/a/file") << b;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_a_project_user") << a << QStringLiteral("user") << c;
+        QTest::newRow("prefer_multimatch_c_project_user") << c << QStringLiteral("user") << c;
+    }
 }
 
 void TestQuickOpen::testProjectFileFilter()