diff --git a/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js b/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js
index 73e514335c4..84f1b501896 100644
--- a/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js
+++ b/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js
@@ -76,8 +76,11 @@ module.exports = {
                     }
                     const rightToken = tokensAndComments[leftIndex + 1];
 
-                    // Ignore tokens that have less than 2 spaces between them or are on different lines
-                    if (leftToken.range[1] + 2 > rightToken.range[0] || leftToken.loc.end.line < rightToken.loc.start.line) {
+                    // Ignore tokens that don't have 2 spaces between them or are on different lines
+                    if (
+                        !sourceCode.text.slice(leftToken.range[1], rightToken.range[0]).includes("  ") ||
+                        leftToken.loc.end.line < rightToken.loc.start.line
+                    ) {
                         return;
                     }
 
diff --git a/tests/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js b/tests/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js
index d3dcf61f588..ea726fbddfe 100644
--- a/tests/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js
+++ b/tests/lib/rules/no-multi-spaces.js
@@ -101,7 +101,9 @@ ruleTester.run("no-multi-spaces", rule, {
         "foo\n \f  bar",
 
         // https://github.com/eslint/eslint/issues/9001
-        "a".repeat(2e5)
+        "a".repeat(2e5),
+
+        "foo\t\t+bar"
     ],
 
     invalid: [