diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.test.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.test.ts
index 4dabbf0c9b..21a27a5d5b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.test.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,21 @@ describe("applyVariableBindings", () => {
     expect(document.querySelector("img")?.getAttribute("src")).toBe("keep.jpg");
   });
 
+  it("does not write a bound text again after a script split it into word spans", () => {
+    setDeclared([{ id: "title", type: "string", label: "Title", default: "Launch day is here" }]);
+    document.body.innerHTML = `<div data-hf-root><h1 data-var-text="title">Launch day is here</h1></div>`;
+    applyVariableBindings(document);
+    const h1 = document.querySelector("h1")!;
+    h1.innerHTML = h1
+      .textContent!.split(" ")
+      .map((w) => `<span>${w}</span>`)
+      .join(" ");
+
+    applyVariableBindings(document);
+
+    expect(h1.textContent).toBe("Launch day is here");
+  });
+
   it("sets text content from a scalar via data-var-text", () => {
     setDeclared([{ id: "title", type: "string", label: "Title", default: "Hello" }]);
     win.__hfVariables = { title: "Overridden" };
diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.ts
index a84ba1cc54..55f1e8ffa3 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/applyVariableBindings.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ import {
   isScalarVariableValue as isScalar,
   isSafeMediaUrl,
 } from "@hyperframes/parsers/composition";
-import { isHtmlElement } from "./domRealm";
+import { isElementNode, isHtmlElement } from "./domRealm";
 import { unproxiedSrc } from "./proxySrc";
 
 // data-var-src only rebinds media `src` on media elements. A user-controlled
@@ -186,10 +186,38 @@ export function applyVariableBindings(doc: Document, within?: Element): void {
     if (url !== null && unproxiedSrc(el) !== url) el.setAttribute("src", url);
   }
 
-  for (const el of all("[data-var-text]")) {
-    const id = el.getAttribute("data-var-text")?.trim();
-    if (!id) continue;
-    const value = valuesForElement(el, cache)[id];
-    if (isScalar(value)) setOwnTextPreservingChildren(el, String(value));
-  }
+  for (const el of all("[data-var-text]")) bindText(el, cache);
+}
+
+const boundText = new WeakMap<Element, string>();
+
+function bindText(el: Element, cache: ScopeValuesCache): void {
+  const id = el.getAttribute("data-var-text")?.trim();
+  if (!id) return;
+  const value = valuesForElement(el, cache)[id];
+  if (!isScalar(value)) return;
+  const text = String(value);
+  // A composition script may have split this text into word spans since it was bound.
+  if (boundText.get(el) === text) return;
+  boundText.set(el, text);
+  setOwnTextPreservingChildren(el, text);
+}
+
+/** Binds text as the page parses, so composition scripts that split it see the variable's value. */
+export function installEarlyTextBindings(): void {
+  if (typeof MutationObserver === "undefined" || typeof document === "undefined") return;
+  const root = document.documentElement;
+  if (!root) return;
+  const scan = (node: Node): void => {
+    if (!isElementNode(node)) return;
+    const cache: ScopeValuesCache = new Map();
+    if (node.matches("[data-var-text]")) bindText(node, cache);
+    for (const el of node.querySelectorAll("[data-var-text]")) bindText(el, cache);
+  };
+  scan(root);
+  const observer = new MutationObserver((mutations) => {
+    for (const mutation of mutations) for (const node of mutation.addedNodes) scan(node);
+  });
+  observer.observe(root, { childList: true, subtree: true });
+  document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => observer.disconnect(), { once: true });
 }
diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/entry.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/entry.ts
index 6f34c13baf..5db5987f9b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/entry.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/entry.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import { fitTextFontSize } from "../text/fitTextFontSize";
 import { pretext } from "../text/pretext";
 import { assetUrl } from "./assetUrl";
 import { getVariables } from "./getVariables";
+import { installEarlyTextBindings } from "./applyVariableBindings";
 import { clearRuntimeData, registerRuntimeDataHandler, setRuntimeData } from "./runtimeData";
 import { runScriptsAfterFonts } from "./afterFonts";
 import { AFTER_FONTS_SCRIPTS } from "../compiler/scriptRuns";
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ type HyperframeWindow = Window & {
 // composition's animation scripts (and the grading hide) mutate it — must run
 // at script evaluation time, while the document is still parsing.
 installAuthoredOpacityCapture();
+installEarlyTextBindings();
 installAuthoredMediaCapture();
 installFlatGsapTransforms();
 window.__hfHasFrameSources = hasFrameSources;
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/coreRuntimeBrowser.test.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/coreRuntimeBrowser.test.ts
index 664407c7c8..d341032fe8 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/coreRuntimeBrowser.test.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/coreRuntimeBrowser.test.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it, onTestFailed } from "vitest"
 import { mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { bundleToSingleHtml } from "@hyperframes/core/compiler";
-import { resolve } from "node:path";
+import { dirname, join, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import puppeteer, { type Browser, type Page } from "puppeteer";
 import type {} from "../../../core/src/runtime/window";
 import { openComposition } from "../../../sdk/src/session";
@@ -403,6 +404,52 @@ describe("core runtime browser contract", () => {
     30_000,
   );
 
+  it.each([
+    [undefined, "Launch day is here"],
+    [{ title: "Doors open at nine" }, "Doors open at nine"],
+  ])(
+    "shows a bound title once when the composition splits it into words (overrides %j)",
+    async (overrides, expected) => {
+      // A navigation, not setContent: document.write runs scripts with no microtask checkpoint before them.
+      const file = join(mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-split-title-")), "index.html");
+      writeFileSync(
+        file,
+        `<!doctype html>
+        <html data-composition-variables='[{"id":"title","type":"string","label":"Title","default":"Launch day is here"}]'>
+        <head>
+          <script>window.__hfVariables = ${JSON.stringify(overrides ?? {})};</script>
+          <script>${readFileSync(RUNTIME_PATH, "utf8")}</script>
+        </head>
+        <body>
+          <div data-composition-id="root" data-start="0" data-duration="1" data-width="320" data-height="180">
+            <h1><span id="title" data-var-text="title">Launch day is here</span></h1>
+          </div>
+          <script>
+            const title = document.getElementById("title");
+            const words = title.textContent.trim().split(" ");
+            title.textContent = "";
+            for (const word of words) title.append(Object.assign(document.createElement("span"), { textContent: word + " " }));
+          </script>
+        </body></html>`,
+      );
+      const splitPage = await browser.newPage();
+      try {
+        await splitPage.goto(pathToFileURL(file).href);
+        await splitPage.waitForFunction(() => window.__playerReady);
+
+        const shown = await splitPage.evaluate(() => ({
+          text: document.getElementById("title")!.textContent!.trim(),
+          words: document.querySelectorAll("#title span").length,
+        }));
+        expect(shown).toEqual({ text: expected, words: expected.split(" ").length });
+      } finally {
+        await splitPage.close();
+        rmSync(dirname(file), { recursive: true, force: true });
+      }
+    },
+    30_000,
+  );
+
   it("renders a later clip's authored lazy image as it is: laid out at setup, fetched before any seek", async () => {
     // A chunked render starts a worker straight at a later clip, so its image must already be loaded.
     const assets = "https://assets.test/";