diff --git a/exercises/practice/word-count/.meta/src/example.cr b/exercises/practice/word-count/.meta/src/example.cr
index cb724b92..f43beac7 100644
--- a/exercises/practice/word-count/.meta/src/example.cr
+++ b/exercises/practice/word-count/.meta/src/example.cr
@@ -3,9 +3,7 @@ module WordCount
     result = Hash(String, Int32).new
     sentence.split(/[\t, \s, \n,]+/).each do |word|
       word = word.downcase.gsub(/[^\w\s']/, "").gsub(/^\'+|\'+$/, "")
-      if word == ""
-        next
-      end
+      next if word.empty?
       result[word] = result.has_key?(word) ? result[word] + 1 : 1
     end
     result