diff --git src/bp-core/bp-core-template.php src/bp-core/bp-core-template.php
index 5cebddf..f1c833a 100644
--- src/bp-core/bp-core-template.php
+++ src/bp-core/bp-core-template.php
@@ -866,48 +866,69 @@ function bp_create_excerpt( $text, $length = 225, $options = array() ) {
 	// If $exact is false, we can't break on words
 	if ( empty( $r['exact'] ) ) {
 		// Find the position of the last space character not part of a tag.
-		preg_match_all( '/<[a-z\!\/][^>]*>/', $truncate, $truncate_tags, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE );
-		$rtruncate = strrev( $truncate );
-		$spacepos = false;
-		for ( $i = strlen( $rtruncate ) - 1; $i >= 0; $i-- ) {
-			if ( ' ' !== $rtruncate[ $i ] ) {
-				continue;
+		preg_match_all( '/<[a-z\!\/][^>]*>/', $truncate, $_truncate_tags, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE );
+
+		// Rekey tags by the string index of their last character.
+		$truncate_tags = array();
+		if ( ! empty( $_truncate_tags[0] ) ) {
+			foreach ( $_truncate_tags[0] as $_tt ) {
+				$_tt['start'] = $_tt[1];
+				$_tt['end']   = $_tt[1] + strlen( $_tt[0] );
+				$truncate_tags[ $_tt['end'] ] = $_tt;
+			}
+		}
+
+		$truncate_length = mb_strlen( $truncate );
+		$spacepos = $truncate_length + 1;
+		for ( $pos = $truncate_length - 1; $pos >= 0; $pos-- ) {
+			// Word boundaries are spaces and the close of HTML tags, when the tag is preceded by a space.
+			$is_word_boundary = ' ' === $truncate[ $pos ];
+			if ( ! $is_word_boundary && isset( $truncate_tags[ $pos - 1 ] ) ) {
+				$preceding_tag    = $truncate_tags[ $pos - 1 ];
+				if ( ' ' === $truncate[ $preceding_tag['start'] - 1 ] ) {
+					$is_word_boundary = true;
+					break;
+				}
 			}
 
-			// Convert rpos to negative offset on forward-facing string.
-			$pos = -1 - $i;
+			if ( ! $is_word_boundary ) {
+				continue;
+			}
 
 			// If there are no tags in the string, the first space found is the right one.
-			if ( empty( $truncate_tags[0] ) ) {
+			if ( empty( $truncate_tags ) ) {
 				$spacepos = $pos;
 				break;
 			}
 
 			// Look at each tag to see if the space is inside of it.
-			foreach ( $truncate_tags[0] as $truncate_tag ) {
-				$start = $truncate_tag[1];
-				$end   = $start + strlen( $truncate_tag[0] );
-				if ( $pos > $start && $pos < $end ) {
-					$spacepos = $pos;
-					break 2;
+			$intag = false;
+			foreach ( $truncate_tags as $tt ) {
+				if ( $pos > $tt['start'] && $pos < $tt['end'] ) {
+					$intag = true;
+					break;
 				}
 			}
+
+			if ( ! $intag ) {
+				$spacepos = $pos;
+				break;
+			}
 		}
 
-		if ( false !== $spacepos ) {
-			if ( $r['html'] ) {
-				$bits = mb_substr( $truncate, $spacepos );
-				preg_match_all( '/<\/([a-z]+)>/', $bits, $droppedTags, PREG_SET_ORDER );
-				if ( !empty( $droppedTags ) ) {
-					foreach ( $droppedTags as $closingTag ) {
-						if ( !in_array( $closingTag[1], $openTags ) ) {
-							array_unshift( $openTags, $closingTag[1] );
-						}
+		if ( $r['html'] ) {
+			$bits = mb_substr( $truncate, $spacepos );
+			preg_match_all( '/<\/([a-z]+)>/', $bits, $droppedTags, PREG_SET_ORDER );
+			if ( !empty( $droppedTags ) ) {
+				foreach ( $droppedTags as $closingTag ) {
+					if ( !in_array( $closingTag[1], $openTags ) ) {
+						array_unshift( $openTags, $closingTag[1] );
 					}
 				}
 			}
-			$truncate = mb_substr( $truncate, 0, $spacepos );
 		}
+
+		$truncate = rtrim( mb_substr( $truncate, 0, $spacepos ) );
 	}
 	$truncate .= $ending;
 
diff --git tests/phpunit/testcases/core/template/bpCreateExcerpt.php tests/phpunit/testcases/core/template/bpCreateExcerpt.php
index 70fce82..7340d5d 100644
--- tests/phpunit/testcases/core/template/bpCreateExcerpt.php
+++ tests/phpunit/testcases/core/template/bpCreateExcerpt.php
@@ -51,6 +51,19 @@ class BP_Tests_Core_Template_BPCreateExcerpt extends BP_UnitTestCase {
 	}
 
 	/**
+	 * @ticket BP6517
+	 */
+	public function test_exact_false_should_properly_account_for_accented_characters() {
+		$text = 'Toutes les connaissances que les hommes avaient mis sur Internet lui étaient accessible. Les grandes bibliothèques du monde entier n’avaient plus de secret pour lui. Il pouvait apprendre très vite, beaucoup plus vite que n’importe quel humain.
+Il avait appris toutes les connaissances du monde entier, visiter tout les pays. C’est lui qui avait fait en sorte qu’Internet se déploie ainsi.';
+		$expected = 'Toutes les connaissances que les hommes avaient mis sur Internet lui étaient accessible. Les';
+		$this->assertSame( $expected, bp_create_excerpt( $text, 98, array(
+			'ending' => '',
+			'exact' => false,
+		) ) );
+	}
+
+	/**
 	 * @ticket BP6254
 	 */
 	public function test_should_trim_too_long_first_word_to_max_characters_even_when_exact_is_false() {