diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 57bd697edf5..3661601b38b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@
     "@grafana/flamegraph": "workspace:*",
     "@grafana/google-sdk": "0.1.1",
     "@grafana/lezer-logql": "0.2.2",
-    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "0.0.11",
+    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "0.0.12",
     "@grafana/monaco-logql": "^0.0.7",
     "@grafana/runtime": "workspace:*",
     "@grafana/scenes": "1.27.0",
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx
index f8e21f40bd0..6af62515efd 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/TraceQLEditor.test.tsx
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ 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 operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{span.http.status_code = }', 'Invalid value after comparison or arithmetic operator.'],
+    ['{span.http.status_code 200}', 'Invalid comparison 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 @ 200}', 'Invalid comparison 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}',
@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@ describe('Check for syntax errors in query', () => {
       '{span.http.status_code = 200} && {span.http.status_code = 200} | avg() > 3',
       'Invalid expression for aggregator operator.',
     ],
-    ['{ 1 + 1 = 2 + }', 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.'],
+    ['{ 1 + 1 = 2 + }', 'Invalid value after comparison or arithmetic operator.'],
     ['{ .a && }', 'Invalid value after logical operator.'],
     ['{ .a || }', 'Invalid value after logical operator.'],
-    ['{ .a + }', 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.'],
-    ['{ 200 = 200 200 }', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
-    ['{.foo   300}', 'Invalid operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{ .a + }', 'Invalid value after comparison or arithmetic operator.'],
+    ['{ 200 = 200 200 }', 'Invalid comparison operator after field expression.'],
+    ['{.foo   300}', 'Invalid comparison 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.'],
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ describe('Check for syntax errors in query', () => {
     ['{.}', 'Invalid expression for spanset.'],
     ['{ resource. }', 'Invalid expression for spanset.'],
     ['{ span. }', 'Invalid expression for spanset.'],
-    ['{.foo=}', 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.'],
-    ['{.foo="}', 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.'],
+    ['{.foo=}', 'Invalid value after comparison or arithmetic operator.'],
+    ['{.foo="}', 'Invalid value after comparison or arithmetic operator.'],
     ['{.foo=300} |', 'Invalid aggregation operator after pipepile operator.'],
     ['{.foo=300} && {.bar=200} |', 'Invalid aggregation operator after pipepile operator.'],
     ['{.foo=300} && {.bar=300} && {.foo=300} |', 'Invalid aggregation operator after pipepile operator.'],
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/errorHighlighting.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/errorHighlighting.ts
index bd49a30b80c..c3974d4300d 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/errorHighlighting.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/errorHighlighting.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export const computeErrorMessage = (errorNode: SyntaxNode) => {
         case Or:
           return 'Invalid value after logical operator.';
         case FieldOp:
-          return 'Invalid value after comparison or aritmetic operator.';
+          return 'Invalid value after comparison or arithmetic operator.';
         default:
           return 'Invalid operator after field expression.';
       }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts
index f4c41b4fd30..b9280e4357a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/traceql/traceql.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ const keywords = intrinsics.concat(scopes);
 
 const statusValues = ['ok', 'unset', 'error', 'false', 'true'];
 
-export const language: languages.IMonarchLanguage = {
+const language: languages.IMonarchLanguage = {
   ignoreCase: false,
   defaultToken: '',
   tokenPostfix: '.traceql',
@@ -88,13 +88,9 @@ export const language: languages.IMonarchLanguage = {
 
       // 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|[.]|"(?:\\"|\\\\|[^\\"])*")+/,
+        // Inside (double) quotes, all characters are allowed, with the exception of `\` and `"` that must be escaped (`\\` and `\"`).
+        // Outside quotes, some more characters are prohibited, such as `!` and `=`.
+        /(?:\w|^[^{}()=~!<>&|," ]|"(?:\\"|\\\\|[^\\"])*")+/,
         {
           cases: {
             '@functions': 'predefined',
@@ -147,6 +143,7 @@ export const language: languages.IMonarchLanguage = {
   },
 };
 
+// For "TraceQL" tab (Monarch editor for TraceQL)
 export const languageDefinition = {
   id: 'traceql',
   extensions: ['.traceql'],
@@ -158,6 +155,7 @@ export const languageDefinition = {
   },
 };
 
+// For "Search" tab (query builder)
 export const traceqlGrammar: Grammar = {
   comment: {
     pattern: /\/\/.*/,
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 4596d481845..2bb1125fe85 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3213,12 +3213,12 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.11":
-  version: 0.0.11
-  resolution: "@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.11"
+"@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.12":
+  version: 0.0.12
+  resolution: "@grafana/lezer-traceql@npm:0.0.12"
   peerDependencies:
     "@lezer/lr": ^1.3.0
-  checksum: cb312cf8f0cf70af6eb307aa0b6478cd8bde9233f281d6f4bb385f3c846a1e9fe0caf8addef5cbc0ccadb57b968fbd10e26ad5df6f898fb2b174536dca924926
+  checksum: 615c215a7c2a72b38138a322feed3de8ff85a5828bdd6933adcf54a41e078365d3bd7db2f046cb17ad21b77a59b100b24a8946369c7dc41c15cac1826dde845b
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
@@ -17317,7 +17317,7 @@ __metadata:
     "@grafana/flamegraph": "workspace:*"
     "@grafana/google-sdk": "npm:0.1.1"
     "@grafana/lezer-logql": "npm:0.2.2"
-    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "npm:0.0.11"
+    "@grafana/lezer-traceql": "npm:0.0.12"
     "@grafana/monaco-logql": "npm:^0.0.7"
     "@grafana/runtime": "workspace:*"
     "@grafana/scenes": "npm:1.27.0"