diff --git a/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp b/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp
index 61705842db..8b0dff31af 100644
--- a/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp
@@ -1825,6 +1825,7 @@ bool QFontEngineMulti::stringToCMap(const QChar *str, int len,
     QStringIterator it(str, str + len);
 
     int lastFallback = -1;
+    char32_t previousUcs4 = 0;
     while (it.hasNext()) {
         const char32_t ucs4 = it.peekNext();
 
@@ -1886,10 +1887,35 @@ bool QFontEngineMulti::stringToCMap(const QChar *str, int len,
                     break;
                 }
             }
+
+            // For variant-selectors, they are modifiers to the previous character. If we
+            // end up with different font selections for the selector and the character it
+            // modifies, we try applying the selector font to the preceding character as well
+            const int variantSelectorBlock = 0xFE00;
+            if ((ucs4 & 0xFFF0) == variantSelectorBlock && glyph_pos > 0) {
+                int selectorFontEngine = glyphs->glyphs[glyph_pos] >> 24;
+                int precedingCharacterFontEngine = glyphs->glyphs[glyph_pos - 1] >> 24;
+
+                if (selectorFontEngine != precedingCharacterFontEngine) {
+                    QFontEngine *engine = m_engines.at(selectorFontEngine);
+                    glyph_t glyph = engine->glyphIndex(previousUcs4);
+                    if (glyph != 0) {
+                        glyphs->glyphs[glyph_pos - 1] = glyph;
+                        if (!(flags & GlyphIndicesOnly)) {
+                            QGlyphLayout g = glyphs->mid(glyph_pos - 1, 1);
+                            engine->recalcAdvances(&g, flags);
+                        }
+
+                        // set the high byte to indicate which engine the glyph came from
+                        glyphs->glyphs[glyph_pos - 1] |= (selectorFontEngine << 24);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
         }
 
         it.advance();
         ++glyph_pos;
+        previousUcs4 = ucs4;
     }
 
     *nglyphs = glyph_pos;
diff --git a/tests/auto/gui/text/qglyphrun/tst_qglyphrun.cpp b/tests/auto/gui/text/qglyphrun/tst_qglyphrun.cpp
index b0d6efc065..efd590a730 100644
--- a/tests/auto/gui/text/qglyphrun/tst_qglyphrun.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/gui/text/qglyphrun/tst_qglyphrun.cpp
@@ -633,8 +633,12 @@ void tst_QGlyphRun::defaultIgnorables()
 
         bool hasFullMainFontRun = false;
         for (const QGlyphRun &run : runs) {
+            // QtsSpecialFont will be used for at least five characters: AA[...]111
+            // Depending on the font selected for the 0xFE0F variant selector, the
+            // third 'A' may be in QtsSpecialFont or in the fallback. This is platform-specific,
+            // so we accept either.
             if (run.rawFont().familyName() == QStringLiteral("QtsSpecialTestFont")
-                    && run.glyphIndexes().size() == 6) {
+                    && run.glyphIndexes().size() >= 5) {
                 hasFullMainFontRun = true;
                 break;
             }
diff --git a/tests/baseline/painting/scripts/text.qps b/tests/baseline/painting/scripts/text.qps
index 4d81b3084c..6bacdfd5e6 100644
--- a/tests/baseline/painting/scripts/text.qps
+++ b/tests/baseline/painting/scripts/text.qps
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ translate 0 75
 save
   setPen black
   setFont "sansserif" 16 normal
-  drawText 0 40 "e😃m😇o😍j😜i😸!"
+  drawText 0 40 "e😃m😇o😍j😜i😸!✈️"
 restore
 
 translate 0 75