diff --git a/task_test.go b/task_test.go
index 540e7ba8de..2f180235c5 100644
--- a/task_test.go
+++ b/task_test.go
@@ -3417,6 +3417,26 @@ func TestWildcard(t *testing.T) {
 			call:           "wildcard-foo-bar",
 			expectedOutput: "Hello foo-bar\n",
 		},
+		{
+			name:           "regex metacharacters are matched literally",
+			call:           "c++",
+			expectedOutput: "Building c++\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "regex metacharacters do not match as a pattern",
+			call:    "cxx",
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "a dot matches itself",
+			call:           "deploy.prod",
+			expectedOutput: "Deploying prod\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "a dot is not a wildcard",
+			call:    "deploy-prod",
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
diff --git a/taskfile/ast/task.go b/taskfile/ast/task.go
index 9465c77770..75b2815154 100644
--- a/taskfile/ast/task.go
+++ b/taskfile/ast/task.go
@@ -87,7 +87,10 @@ func (t *Task) WildcardMatch(name string) (bool, []string) {
 	names := append([]string{t.Task}, t.Aliases...)
 
 	for _, taskName := range names {
-		regexStr := fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", strings.ReplaceAll(taskName, "*", "(.*)"))
+		// Escape the task name so a name like "c++" or "a.b" is matched literally
+		// and does not panic in MustCompile, then turn the escaped "*" back into
+		// the wildcard group
+		regexStr := fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", strings.ReplaceAll(regexp.QuoteMeta(taskName), `\*`, "(.*)"))
 		regex := regexp.MustCompile(regexStr)
 		wildcards := regex.FindStringSubmatch(name)
 
diff --git a/testdata/wildcards/Taskfile.yml b/testdata/wildcards/Taskfile.yml
index 0ec2ae2895..e152876c01 100644
--- a/testdata/wildcards/Taskfile.yml
+++ b/testdata/wildcards/Taskfile.yml
@@ -25,3 +25,12 @@ tasks:
       SERVICE: "{{index .MATCH 0}}"
     cmds:
       - echo "Starting {{.SERVICE}}"
+
+  # Regex metacharacters in a task name must be matched literally
+  c++:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Building c++"
+
+  deploy.prod:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Deploying prod"