diff --git a/static/js/composebox_typeahead.js b/static/js/composebox_typeahead.js
index e2cba7cb11..710553ca0d 100644
--- a/static/js/composebox_typeahead.js
+++ b/static/js/composebox_typeahead.js
@@ -87,17 +87,20 @@ function get_language_matcher(query) {
 
 export function query_matches_person(query, person) {
     if (!settings_data.show_email()) {
-        return typeahead.query_matches_source_attrs(query, person, ["full_name"], " ");
+        return typeahead.query_matches_string(query, person.full_name, " ");
     }
     let email_attr = "email";
     if (person.delivery_email) {
         email_attr = "delivery_email";
     }
-    return typeahead.query_matches_source_attrs(query, person, ["full_name", email_attr], " ");
+    return (
+        typeahead.query_matches_string(query, person.full_name, " ") ||
+        typeahead.query_matches_string(query, person[email_attr], " ")
+    );
 }
 
 export function query_matches_name(query, user_group_or_stream) {
-    return typeahead.query_matches_source_attrs(query, user_group_or_stream, ["name"], " ");
+    return typeahead.query_matches_string(query, user_group_or_stream.name, " ");
 }
 
 function get_stream_or_user_group_matcher(query) {
@@ -113,7 +116,10 @@ function get_slash_matcher(query) {
     query = typeahead.clean_query_lowercase(query);
 
     return function (item) {
-        return typeahead.query_matches_source_attrs(query, item, ["name", "aliases"], " ");
+        return (
+            typeahead.query_matches_string(query, item.name, " ") ||
+            typeahead.query_matches_string(query, item.aliases, " ")
+        );
     };
 }
 
@@ -125,7 +131,7 @@ function get_topic_matcher(query) {
             topic,
         };
 
-        return typeahead.query_matches_source_attrs(query, obj, ["topic"], " ");
+        return typeahead.query_matches_string(query, obj.topic, " ");
     };
 }
 
diff --git a/static/shared/js/typeahead.js b/static/shared/js/typeahead.js
index 1898d840aa..c992034e06 100644
--- a/static/shared/js/typeahead.js
+++ b/static/shared/js/typeahead.js
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ export function remove_diacritics(s) {
     return s.normalize("NFKD").replace(unicode_marks, "");
 }
 
-function query_matches_string(query, source_str, split_char) {
+// This function attempts to match a query with a source text.
+// * query is the user-entered search query
+// * source_str is the string we're matching in, e.g. a user's name
+// * split_char is the separator for this syntax (e.g. ' ').
+export function query_matches_string(query, source_str, split_char) {
     source_str = source_str.toLowerCase();
     source_str = remove_diacritics(source_str);
 
@@ -51,19 +55,6 @@ function query_matches_string(query, source_str, split_char) {
     return source_str.startsWith(query) || source_str.includes(split_char + query);
 }
 
-// This function attempts to match a query with source's attributes.
-// * query is the user-entered search query
-// * Source is the object we're matching from, e.g. a user object
-// * match_attrs are the values associated with the target object that
-// the entered string might be trying to match, e.g. for a user
-// account, there might be 2 attrs: their full name and their email.
-// * split_char is the separator for this syntax (e.g. ' ').
-export function query_matches_source_attrs(query, source, match_attrs, split_char) {
-    return match_attrs.some((attr) => {
-        return query_matches_string(query, source[attr], split_char);
-    });
-}
-
 function clean_query(query) {
     query = remove_diacritics(query);
     // When `abc ` with a space at the end is typed in a
@@ -98,9 +89,7 @@ export function get_emoji_matcher(query) {
     return function (emoji) {
         const matches_emoji_literal =
             is_unicode_emoji(emoji) && parse_unicode_emoji_code(emoji.emoji_code) === query;
-        return (
-            matches_emoji_literal || query_matches_source_attrs(query, emoji, ["emoji_name"], "_")
-        );
+        return matches_emoji_literal || query_matches_string(query, emoji.emoji_name, "_");
     };
 }
 
diff --git a/static/shared/js/typeahead.js.flow b/static/shared/js/typeahead.js.flow
index 04238362f5..cb5f5412e4 100644
--- a/static/shared/js/typeahead.js.flow
+++ b/static/shared/js/typeahead.js.flow
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@ export type Emoji = {emoji_name: string, emoji_code: string, ...};
 
 declare export function remove_diacritics(s: string): string;
 
-// declare export function query_matches_source_attrs
+declare export function query_matches_string(
+    query: string,
+    source_str: string,
+    split_char: string,
+): boolean;
 
 // declare export function clean_query_lowercase