diff --git a/src/MANYBODY/pair_eim.cpp b/src/MANYBODY/pair_eim.cpp
index 0d552caebc..f3f965a231 100644
--- a/src/MANYBODY/pair_eim.cpp
+++ b/src/MANYBODY/pair_eim.cpp
@@ -1123,7 +1123,7 @@ char * EIMPotentialFileReader::next_line(FILE * fp) {
       concat = false;
     }
 
-    nwords = utils::count_words(line);
+    nwords += utils::count_words(&line[n]);
 
     // skip line if blank
     if (nwords > 0) {