diff --git a/leankeykeyboard/src/main/java/com/google/android/leanback/ime/LeanbackKeyboardView.java b/leankeykeyboard/src/main/java/com/google/android/leanback/ime/LeanbackKeyboardView.java
index 021a615..28b5ed1 100644
--- a/leankeykeyboard/src/main/java/com/google/android/leanback/ime/LeanbackKeyboardView.java
+++ b/leankeykeyboard/src/main/java/com/google/android/leanback/ime/LeanbackKeyboardView.java
@@ -124,25 +124,33 @@ public class LeanbackKeyboardView extends FrameLayout {
     }
 
     private CharSequence getSpecialLowerCase(CharSequence label) {
-        String realLabel = label.toString();
-        if (realLabel.contains("|")) {
-            String[] labels = realLabel.split("\\|");
-            return labels[0];
+        String[] labels = splitLabels(label);
+
+        if (labels != null) {
+            return labels[0]; // lower case char
         }
 
         return label.toString().toLowerCase();
     }
 
     private CharSequence getSpecialUpperCase(CharSequence label) {
-        String realLabel = label.toString();
-        if (realLabel.contains("|")) {
-            String[] labels = realLabel.split("\\|");
-            return labels[1];
+        String[] labels = splitLabels(label);
+
+        if (labels != null) {
+            return labels[1]; // upper case char
         }
 
         return label.toString().toUpperCase();
     }
 
+    private String[] splitLabels(CharSequence label) {
+        String realLabel = label.toString();
+
+        String[] labels = realLabel.split("\\|");
+
+        return labels.length == 2 ? labels : null; // remember, we encoding two chars
+    }
+
     @SuppressLint("NewApi")
     private ImageView createKeyImageView(final int keyIndex) {
         Rect padding = mPadding;
diff --git a/leankeykeyboard/src/main/res/xml/qwerty_th.xml b/leankeykeyboard/src/main/res/xml/qwerty_th.xml
index f9736af..aff1142 100644
--- a/leankeykeyboard/src/main/res/xml/qwerty_th.xml
+++ b/leankeykeyboard/src/main/res/xml/qwerty_th.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@
         <Key android:codes="-5" android:keyEdgeFlags="right"         android:keyLabel="@string/keyboardview_keycode_delete" android:keyIcon="@drawable/ic_ime_delete" />
     </Row>
     <Row>
-        <Key android:popupKeyboard="@xml/accent_q_th"  android:keyLabel="ฝ" android:keyEdgeFlags="left" />
+        <!-- NOTE: example of adding different chars to uppercase/lowercase states  -->
+        <!-- format is: android:keyLabel="lower_char|upper_char" e.g. android:keyLabel="ฝ|๒" -->
+        <Key android:popupKeyboard="@xml/accent_q_th"  android:keyLabel="ฝ|๒" android:keyEdgeFlags="left" />
         <Key android:popupKeyboard="@xml/accent_w_th"  android:keyLabel="๒" />
         <Key android:popupKeyboard="@xml/accent_e_th"  android:keyLabel="๓" />
         <Key android:popupKeyboard="@xml/accent_r_th"  android:keyLabel="ู" />