diff --git a/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/index.js b/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/index.js
index b048c442f594ed..abc8b71528b86d 100644
--- a/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/index.js
+++ b/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/index.js
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ import {
 	getSelectionEnd,
 	remove,
 	isCollapsed,
+	LINE_SEPARATOR,
+	charAt,
 } from '@wordpress/rich-text';
 import { decodeEntities } from '@wordpress/html-entities';
 
@@ -492,8 +494,6 @@ export class RichText extends Component {
 	 * @link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret_navigation
 	 *
 	 * @param {KeyboardEvent} event Keydown event.
-	 *
-	 * @return {?boolean} True if the event was handled.
 	 */
 	onDeleteKeyDown( event ) {
 		const { onMerge, onRemove } = this.props;
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ export class RichText extends Component {
 			onRemove( ! isReverse );
 		}
 
-		return true;
+		event.preventDefault();
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -545,32 +545,46 @@ export class RichText extends Component {
 		const { keyCode } = event;
 
 		if ( keyCode === DELETE || keyCode === BACKSPACE ) {
-			event.preventDefault();
+			const value = this.createRecord();
+			const start = getSelectionStart( value );
+			const end = getSelectionEnd( value );
 
-			if ( this.onDeleteKeyDown( event ) ) {
+			// Always handle uncollapsed selections ourselves.
+			if ( ! isCollapsed( value ) ) {
+				this.onChange( remove( value ) );
+				event.preventDefault();
 				return;
 			}
 
-			const value = this.createRecord();
-			const start = getSelectionStart( value );
-			const end = getSelectionEnd( value );
+			if ( this.multilineTag ) {
+				let newValue;
+
+				if ( keyCode === BACKSPACE ) {
+					if ( charAt( value, start - 1 ) === LINE_SEPARATOR ) {
+						newValue = remove(
+							value,
+							// Only remove the line if the selection is
+							// collapsed.
+							isCollapsed( value ) ? start - 1 : start,
+							end
+						);
+					}
+				} else if ( charAt( value, end ) === LINE_SEPARATOR ) {
+					newValue = remove(
+						value,
+						start,
+						// Only remove the line if the selection is collapsed.
+						isCollapsed( value ) ? end + 1 : end,
+					);
+				}
 
-			if ( keyCode === BACKSPACE ) {
-				this.onChange( remove(
-					value,
-					// Only remove the line if the selection is
-					// collapsed.
-					isCollapsed( value ) ? start - 1 : start,
-					end
-				) );
-			} else {
-				this.onChange( remove(
-					value,
-					start,
-					// Only remove the line if the selection is collapsed.
-					isCollapsed( value ) ? end + 1 : end,
-				) );
+				if ( newValue ) {
+					this.onChange( newValue );
+					event.preventDefault();
+				}
 			}
+
+			this.onDeleteKeyDown( event );
 		} else if ( keyCode === ENTER ) {
 			event.preventDefault();
 
diff --git a/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/tinymce.js b/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/tinymce.js
index e3dfb4145a67c0..8fa0f18ea3e4f1 100644
--- a/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/tinymce.js
+++ b/packages/editor/src/components/rich-text/tinymce.js
@@ -252,9 +252,11 @@ export default class TinyMCE extends Component {
 
 	onKeyDown( event ) {
 		const { keyCode } = event;
+		const { startContainer, startOffset, endContainer, endOffset } = getSelection().getRangeAt( 0 );
+		const isCollapsed = startContainer === endContainer && startOffset === endOffset;
 
 		// Disables TinyMCE behaviour.
-		if ( keyCode === ENTER || keyCode === BACKSPACE || keyCode === DELETE ) {
+		if ( keyCode === ENTER || ( ! isCollapsed && ( keyCode === DELETE || keyCode === BACKSPACE ) ) ) {
 			event.preventDefault();
 			// For some reason this is needed to also prevent the insertion of
 			// line breaks.
diff --git a/test/e2e/specs/writing-flow.test.js b/test/e2e/specs/writing-flow.test.js
index 67c91280ba4107..aa7456533ec58c 100644
--- a/test/e2e/specs/writing-flow.test.js
+++ b/test/e2e/specs/writing-flow.test.js
@@ -223,4 +223,22 @@ describe( 'adding blocks', () => {
 		) );
 		expect( isInBlock ).toBe( true );
 	} );
+
+	it( 'should not delete trailing spaces when deleting a word with backspace', async () => {
+		await clickBlockAppender();
+		await page.keyboard.type( '1 2 3 4' );
+		await page.keyboard.press( 'Backspace' );
+		await page.keyboard.type( '4' );
+		const blockText = await page.evaluate( () => document.activeElement.textContent );
+		expect( blockText ).toBe( '1 2 3 4' );
+	} );
+
+	it( 'should not delete trailing spaces when deleting a word with alt + backspace', async () => {
+		await clickBlockAppender();
+		await page.keyboard.type( 'alpha beta gamma delta' );
+		await pressWithModifier( META_KEY, 'Backspace' );
+		await page.keyboard.type( 'delta' );
+		const blockText = await page.evaluate( () => document.activeElement.textContent );
+		expect( blockText ).toBe( 'alpha beta gamma delta' );
+	} );
 } );