diff --git a/wp-includes/query.php b/wp-includes/query.php
index 5f6ccddfb8..68093b69b5 100644
--- a/wp-includes/query.php
+++ b/wp-includes/query.php
@@ -2177,6 +2177,8 @@ class WP_Query {
 		if ( !empty($q['s']) ) {
 			// added slashes screw with quote grouping when done early, so done later
 			$q['s'] = stripslashes($q['s']);
+			if ( empty( $_GET['s'] ) && is_main_query() )
+				$q['s'] = urldecode($q['s']);
 			if ( !empty($q['sentence']) ) {
 				$q['search_terms'] = array($q['s']);
 			} else {