diff --git a/queries/nix/highlights.scm b/queries/nix/highlights.scm
index e60091436..bce901a47 100644
--- a/queries/nix/highlights.scm
+++ b/queries/nix/highlights.scm
@@ -8,9 +8,16 @@
   "with"
 ] @keyword
 
-; these are technically functions but they act more like keywords (abort and throw are control flow, derivation is a core language construct)
-((identifier) @keyword
-  (#any-of? @keyword "abort" "derivation" "throw"))
+(variable_expression
+  name: (identifier) @keyword
+  (#eq? @keyword "derivation")
+  (#set! "priority" 101))
+
+; exceptions
+(variable_expression
+  name: (identifier) @exception
+  (#any-of? @exception "abort" "throw")
+  (#set! "priority" 101))
 
 ; if/then/else
 [
@@ -73,19 +80,24 @@
 ; basic identifiers
 (variable_expression) @variable
 
-((identifier) @include (#eq? @include "import"))
-((identifier) @boolean (#any-of? @boolean "true" "false"))
+(variable_expression
+  name: (identifier) @include
+  (#eq? @include "import"))
+
+(variable_expression
+  name: (identifier) @boolean
+  (#any-of? @boolean "true" "false"))
 
 ; builtin functions
-((identifier) @function.builtin (#any-of? @function.builtin
-  ; nix eval --impure --expr 'with builtins; filter (x: x != "import" && isFunction builtins.${x}) (attrNames builtins)'
-  "abort" "add" "addErrorContext" "all" "any" "appendContext" "attrNames" "attrValues" "baseNameOf" "bitAnd" "bitOr" "bitXor" "break" "catAttrs" "ceil" "compareVersions" "concatLists" "concatMap" "concatStringsSep" "deepSeq" "derivation" "derivationStrict" "dirOf" "div" "elem" "elemAt" "fetchGit" "fetchMercurial" "fetchTarball" "fetchTree" "fetchurl" "filter" "filterSource" "findFile" "floor" "foldl'" "fromJSON" "fromTOML" "functionArgs" "genList" "genericClosure" "getAttr" "getContext" "getEnv" "getFlake" "groupBy" "hasAttr" "hasContext" "hashFile" "hashString" "head" "intersectAttrs" "isAttrs" "isBool" "isFloat" "isFunction" "isInt" "isList" "isNull" "isPath" "isString" "length" "lessThan" "listToAttrs" "map" "mapAttrs" "match" "mul" "parseDrvName" "partition" "path" "pathExists" "placeholder" "readDir" "readFile" "removeAttrs" "replaceStrings" "scopedImport" "seq" "sort" "split" "splitVersion" "storePath" "stringLength" "sub" "substring" "tail" "throw" "toFile" "toJSON" "toPath" "toString" "toXML" "trace" "traceVerbose" "tryEval" "typeOf" "unsafeDiscardOutputDependency" "unsafeDiscardStringContext" "unsafeGetAttrPos" "zipAttrsWith"
+(variable_expression name: (identifier) @function.builtin (#any-of? @function.builtin
+  ; nix eval --impure --expr 'with builtins; filter (x: !(elem x [ "abort" "derivation" "import" "throw" ]) && isFunction builtins.${x}) (attrNames builtins)'
+  "add" "addErrorContext" "all" "any" "appendContext" "attrNames" "attrValues" "baseNameOf" "bitAnd" "bitOr" "bitXor" "break" "catAttrs" "ceil" "compareVersions" "concatLists" "concatMap" "concatStringsSep" "deepSeq" "derivationStrict" "dirOf" "div" "elem" "elemAt" "fetchGit" "fetchMercurial" "fetchTarball" "fetchTree" "fetchurl" "filter" "filterSource" "findFile" "floor" "foldl'" "fromJSON" "fromTOML" "functionArgs" "genList" "genericClosure" "getAttr" "getContext" "getEnv" "getFlake" "groupBy" "hasAttr" "hasContext" "hashFile" "hashString" "head" "intersectAttrs" "isAttrs" "isBool" "isFloat" "isFunction" "isInt" "isList" "isNull" "isPath" "isString" "length" "lessThan" "listToAttrs" "map" "mapAttrs" "match" "mul" "parseDrvName" "partition" "path" "pathExists" "placeholder" "readDir" "readFile" "removeAttrs" "replaceStrings" "scopedImport" "seq" "sort" "split" "splitVersion" "storePath" "stringLength" "sub" "substring" "tail" "toFile" "toJSON" "toPath" "toString" "toXML" "trace" "traceVerbose" "tryEval" "typeOf" "unsafeDiscardOutputDependency" "unsafeDiscardStringContext" "unsafeGetAttrPos" "zipAttrsWith"
   ; primops, `__<tab>` in `nix repl`
  "__add" "__filter" "__isFunction" "__split" "__addErrorContext" "__filterSource" "__isInt" "__splitVersion" "__all" "__findFile" "__isList" "__storeDir" "__any" "__floor" "__isPath" "__storePath" "__appendContext" "__foldl'" "__isString" "__stringLength" "__attrNames" "__fromJSON" "__langVersion" "__sub" "__attrValues" "__functionArgs" "__length" "__substring" "__bitAnd" "__genList" "__lessThan" "__tail" "__bitOr" "__genericClosure" "__listToAttrs" "__toFile" "__bitXor" "__getAttr" "__mapAttrs" "__toJSON" "__catAttrs" "__getContext" "__match" "__toPath" "__ceil" "__getEnv" "__mul" "__toXML" "__compareVersions" "__getFlake" "__nixPath" "__trace" "__concatLists" "__groupBy" "__nixVersion" "__traceVerbose" "__concatMap" "__hasAttr" "__parseDrvName" "__tryEval" "__concatStringsSep" "__hasContext" "__partition" "__typeOf" "__currentSystem" "__hashFile" "__path" "__unsafeDiscardOutputDependency" "__currentTime" "__hashString" "__pathExists" "__unsafeDiscardStringContext" "__deepSeq" "__head" "__readDir" "__unsafeGetAttrPos" "__div" "__intersectAttrs" "__readFile" "__zipAttrsWith" "__elem" "__isAttrs" "__replaceStrings" "__elemAt" "__isBool" "__seq" "__fetchurl" "__isFloat" "__sort"
 ))
 
 ; constants
-((identifier) @constant.builtin (#any-of? @constant.builtin
+(variable_expression name: (identifier) @constant.builtin (#any-of? @constant.builtin
   ; nix eval --impure --expr 'with builtins; filter (x: !(isFunction builtins.${x} || isBool builtins.${x})) (attrNames builtins)'
   "builtins" "currentSystem" "currentTime" "langVersion" "nixPath" "nixVersion" "null" "storeDir"
 ))