diff --git a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/core/Enumerations.kt b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/core/Enumerations.kt
index 3623fbc8e..da118438c 100644
--- a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/core/Enumerations.kt
+++ b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/core/Enumerations.kt
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ val BaseDataType.isArray get() = this == BaseDataType.ARRAY || this == BaseDataT
 val BaseDataType.isPointer get() = this == BaseDataType.POINTER
 val BaseDataType.isStructInstance get() = this == BaseDataType.STRUCT_INSTANCE
 val BaseDataType.isPointerArray get() = this == BaseDataType.ARRAY_POINTER
-val BaseDataType.isSplitWordArray get() = this == BaseDataType.ARRAY_SPLITW
+val BaseDataType.isSplitWordArray get() = this == BaseDataType.ARRAY_SPLITW || this == BaseDataType.ARRAY_POINTER       // pointer arrays are also always stored as split uwords
 val BaseDataType.isIterable get() =  this in arrayOf(BaseDataType.STR, BaseDataType.ARRAY, BaseDataType.ARRAY_SPLITW, BaseDataType.ARRAY_POINTER)
 val BaseDataType.isPassByRef get() = this.isIterable && !this.isPointer
 val BaseDataType.isPassByValue get() = !this.isIterable || this.isPointer
diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/VariousCleanups.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/VariousCleanups.kt
index 3d74e39a1..9d3721e69 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/VariousCleanups.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/VariousCleanups.kt
@@ -81,15 +81,29 @@ internal class VariousCleanups(val program: Program, val errors: IErrorReporter,
                         changeSplit = SplitWish.NOSPLIT
                     }
                     else {
-                        changeDataType = if(decl.datatype.isSplitWordArray) null else DataType.arrayFor(decl.datatype.elementType().base)
+                        changeDataType = if(decl.datatype.isSplitWordArray) null else {
+                            val eltDt = decl.datatype.elementType()
+                            if(eltDt.isPointer)
+                                DataType.arrayOfPointersTo(eltDt.base, eltDt.subType)
+                            else
+                                DataType.arrayFor(eltDt.base)
+                        }
                         changeSplit = SplitWish.SPLIT
                     }
                 }
                 SplitWish.SPLIT -> {
-                    changeDataType = if(decl.datatype.isSplitWordArray) null else DataType.arrayFor(decl.datatype.elementType().base)
+                    changeDataType = if(decl.datatype.isSplitWordArray) null else {
+                        val eltDt = decl.datatype.elementType()
+                        if(eltDt.isPointer)
+                            DataType.arrayOfPointersTo(eltDt.base, eltDt.subType)
+                        else
+                            DataType.arrayFor(eltDt.base)
+                    }
                 }
                 SplitWish.NOSPLIT -> {
-                    changeDataType = if(decl.datatype.isSplitWordArray) DataType.arrayFor(decl.datatype.elementType().base, false) else null
+                    changeDataType = if(decl.datatype.isSplitWordArray && !decl.datatype.elementType().isPointer)
+                        DataType.arrayFor(decl.datatype.elementType().base, false)
+                    else null
                 }
             }
             if(changeDataType!=null) {
diff --git a/docs/source/todo.rst b/docs/source/todo.rst
index 0cf3135e6..b61294c17 100644
--- a/docs/source/todo.rst
+++ b/docs/source/todo.rst
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ STRUCTS and TYPED POINTERS
 - DONE: STR should be asssignment compatible with UBYTE^^ but local scoped STR should still be accessed directly using LDA str,Y instead of through the pointer, like arrays.
 - DONE: replace ^^str by ^^ubyte
 - DONE: allow return ubyte/uword when pointer type is expected as return value type
-- fix actual _msb/_lsb storage of the split-words pointer-arrays
+- DONE: fix _msb/_lsb storage of the split-words pointer-arrays
 - make typeForAddressOf() be even more specific about the typed pointers it returns for the address-of operator. + unit test.  Needs fixes in 6502 codegen too though... (also recheck passing STR and ARRAY types to subroutines)
 - fixing the pointer dereferencing issues (cursed hybrid beween IdentifierReference, PtrDereferece and PtrIndexedDereference) may require getting rid of scoped identifiers altogether and treat '.' as a "scope or pointer following operator"
 - (later, nasty parser problem:) support chaining pointer dereference on function calls that return a pointer.  (type checking now fails on stuff like func().field and func().next.field)
diff --git a/examples/test.p8 b/examples/test.p8
index d2ae8674c..4c47d248d 100644
--- a/examples/test.p8
+++ b/examples/test.p8
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ main {
         info(n1)
 
         word[] @nosplit values = [111,222,-999,-888]
+        ^^word[10] @shared wordpointers
+
+        wordpointers[0] = 1000
+        wordpointers[1] = 2000
+        wordpointers[2] = 3000
+        wordpointers[3] = 4000
 
         ^^byte @shared bptr
         ^^ubyte @shared ubptr