diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/entityruler.py b/spacy/pipeline/entityruler.py
index 1786dda87..2abff62f1 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/entityruler.py
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/entityruler.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ class EntityRuler(object):
         matches = set(
             [(m_id, start, end) for m_id, start, end in matches if start != end]
         )
-        get_sort_key = lambda m: (m[2] - m[1], m[1])
+        get_sort_key = lambda m: (m[2] - m[1], -m[1])
         matches = sorted(matches, key=get_sort_key, reverse=True)
         entities = list(doc.ents)
         new_entities = []
diff --git a/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_entity_ruler.py b/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_entity_ruler.py
index b6e3c40c9..9e22c9cc7 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_entity_ruler.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_entity_ruler.py
@@ -154,3 +154,15 @@ def test_entity_ruler_properties(nlp, patterns):
     ruler = EntityRuler(nlp, patterns=patterns, overwrite_ents=True)
     assert sorted(ruler.labels) == sorted(["HELLO", "BYE", "COMPLEX", "TECH_ORG"])
     assert sorted(ruler.ent_ids) == ["a1", "a2"]
+
+
+def test_entity_ruler_overlapping_spans(nlp):
+    ruler = EntityRuler(nlp)
+    patterns = [
+        {"label": "FOOBAR", "pattern": "foo bar"},
+        {"label": "BARBAZ", "pattern": "bar baz"},
+    ]
+    ruler.add_patterns(patterns)
+    doc = ruler(nlp.make_doc("foo bar baz"))
+    assert len(doc.ents) == 1
+    assert doc.ents[0].label_ == "FOOBAR"