diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/grep/grep_tests.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/grep/grep_tests.rs
index a7c42da34..3ea6f0e2b 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/grep/grep_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/grep/grep_tests.rs
@@ -518,3 +518,78 @@ fn regex_fallback_keeps_file_path_scope_issue_756() {
         "regex fallback must not leak outside the FilePath scope"
     );
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn multi_grep_keeps_files_for_a_pattern_without_bigrams() {
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let base = crate::path_utils::canonicalize(dir.path()).unwrap();
+
+    // Only a/b/c carry the ASCII needle, so its bigrams stay below the
+    // ubiquity threshold that `compress` drops.
+    let base_contents: &[(&str, &str)] = &[
+        ("a.txt", "hello unicorn world"),
+        ("b.txt", "another unicorn line"),
+        ("c.txt", "one more unicorn here"),
+        ("d.txt", "nothing special in here"),
+        ("e.txt", "日本語のテキスト"),
+        ("f.txt", "rainbow sky above"),
+    ];
+    for (name, content) in base_contents {
+        let mut f = std::fs::File::create(base.join(name)).unwrap();
+        writeln!(f, "{}", content).unwrap();
+    }
+
+    let mut picker = FilePicker::new(FilePickerOptions {
+        base_path: base.to_str().unwrap().into(),
+        watch: false,
+        ..Default::default()
+    })
+    .unwrap();
+    picker.collect_files().unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(picker.get_files().len(), base_contents.len());
+
+    let consec_builder = BigramIndexBuilder::new(base_contents.len());
+    let skip_builder = BigramIndexBuilder::new(base_contents.len());
+    for (i, (_, content)) in base_contents.iter().enumerate() {
+        consec_builder.add_file_content(&skip_builder, i, content.as_bytes());
+    }
+    // Compressed as build_bigram_index does, so this is the production prefilter.
+    let mut index = consec_builder.compress(None);
+    index.set_skip_index(skip_builder.compress(Some(
+        crate::index::bigram_filter::SKIP_INDEX_MIN_DENSITY_PCT,
+    )));
+    picker.set_bigram_index(index);
+
+    let options = crate::GrepSearchOptions {
+        mode: super::GrepMode::PlainText,
+        smart_case: true,
+        page_limit: 100,
+        ..Default::default()
+    };
+
+    let grep = |patterns: &[&str]| -> (Vec<String>, usize) {
+        let result = picker.multi_grep(patterns, &[], &options);
+        let mut paths: Vec<String> = result
+            .files
+            .iter()
+            .map(|f| f.relative_path(&picker))
+            .collect();
+        paths.sort();
+        (paths, result.total_files_searched)
+    };
+
+    // The CJK needle has no printable-ASCII bigram, so nothing can be
+    // prefiltered: every file is searched and e.txt is found.
+    let (paths, searched) = grep(&["unicorn", "日本語"]);
+    assert_eq!(paths, vec!["a.txt", "b.txt", "c.txt", "e.txt"]);
+    assert_eq!(searched, base_contents.len());
+
+    // Every pattern indexable: only the files carrying some pattern's
+    // bigrams are searched, so the prefilter still narrows.
+    let (paths, searched) = grep(&["unicorn", "rainbow"]);
+    assert_eq!(paths, vec!["a.txt", "b.txt", "c.txt", "f.txt"]);
+    assert_eq!(searched, 4);
+    let (paths, searched) = grep(&["unicorn"]);
+    assert_eq!(paths, vec!["a.txt", "b.txt", "c.txt"]);
+    assert_eq!(searched, 3);
+}
diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/index/bigram_filter.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/index/bigram_filter.rs
index 2c409151b..e85078011 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/index/bigram_filter.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/index/bigram_filter.rs
@@ -794,7 +794,7 @@ const BIGRAM_CHUNK_FILES: usize = 4 * 64;
 /// Sparse-column cutoff for the skip-1 sub-index. Rare skip columns add
 /// little filtering power but ~25-30% of index memory, so we drop
 /// anything appearing in < 12 % of populated files.
-const SKIP_INDEX_MIN_DENSITY_PCT: u32 = 12;
+pub(crate) const SKIP_INDEX_MIN_DENSITY_PCT: u32 = 12;
 
 thread_local! {
     /// Reusable read buffer that is allocated per thread and used for reading files
diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/index/candidates.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/index/candidates.rs
index e6a2669bd..1542d51fd 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/index/candidates.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/index/candidates.rs
@@ -38,17 +38,18 @@ pub(crate) fn literal_candidates(
 
     let mut combined: Option<Vec<u64>> = None;
     for pattern in patterns {
-        if let Some(candidates) = index.query(pattern.as_bytes()) {
-            combined = Some(match combined {
-                None => candidates,
-                Some(mut acc) => {
-                    acc.iter_mut()
-                        .zip(candidates.iter())
-                        .for_each(|(a, b)| *a |= *b);
-                    acc
-                }
-            });
-        }
+        // A pattern the index can't narrow matches any file, and the union with
+        // it is every file — so bail out of prefiltering instead of dropping it.
+        let candidates = index.query(pattern.as_bytes())?;
+        combined = Some(match combined {
+            None => candidates,
+            Some(mut acc) => {
+                acc.iter_mut()
+                    .zip(candidates.iter())
+                    .for_each(|(a, b)| *a |= *b);
+                acc
+            }
+        });
     }
 
     let mut candidates = combined?;