diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 5a580b1..0a56705 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
       (diewald; fixes #177; diewald; AI-assisted Claude Opus 4.6)
     - [bugfix] Correctly handle foundry and layer in attribute groups
       (diewald; AI-assisted Claude Opus 4.6)
+    - [bugfix] Support regular expressions in attribute queries
+      (fixes #80; diewald; AI-assisted Claude Opus 4.6)
 
 0.64.6 2026-03-09
     - [performance] Add leaf cache. (diewald)
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanAttributeQuery.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanAttributeQuery.java
index 0ae6922..a4b2123 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanAttributeQuery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/SpanAttributeQuery.java
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.TermContext;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanQuery;
-import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanTermQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.Spans;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.Bits;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.ToStringUtils;
@@ -50,19 +49,19 @@
 
     /**
      * Constructs a SpanAttributeQuery based on the specified
-     * {@link SpanTermQuery} and set whether payloads are to be
+     * {@link SpanQuery} and set whether payloads are to be
      * collected or
      * not.
      * 
      * @param firstClause
-     *            a {@link SpanTermQuery}
+     *            a {@link SpanQuery}
      * @param collectPayloads
      *            a boolean flag representing the value
      *            <code>true</code> if payloads are to be collected,
      *            otherwise
      *            <code>false</code>.
      */
-    public SpanAttributeQuery (SpanTermQuery firstClause,
+    public SpanAttributeQuery (SpanQuery firstClause,
                                boolean collectPayloads) {
         super(firstClause, collectPayloads);
     }
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@
 
     /**
      * Constructs a SpanAttributeQuery based on the specified
-     * {@link SpanTermQuery}, which is also marked for
+     * {@link SpanQuery}, which is also marked for
      * negation/omission when
      * matching to element/relation spans. Additionally set whether
      * payloads are
@@ -90,7 +89,7 @@
      *            otherwise
      *            <code>false</code>.
      */
-    public SpanAttributeQuery (SpanTermQuery firstClause, boolean negation,
+    public SpanAttributeQuery (SpanQuery firstClause, boolean negation,
                                boolean collectPayloads) {
         super(firstClause, collectPayloads);
         this.negation = negation;
@@ -101,7 +100,7 @@
     @Override
     public SimpleSpanQuery clone () {
         SpanAttributeQuery sq = new SpanAttributeQuery(
-                (SpanTermQuery) this.firstClause.clone(), this.negation,
+                (SpanQuery) this.firstClause.clone(), this.negation,
                 this.collectPayloads);
         sq.setBoost(getBoost());
         return sq;
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanAttributeQueryWrapper.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanAttributeQueryWrapper.java
index 616fad5..fe4df54 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanAttributeQueryWrapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanAttributeQueryWrapper.java
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.wrap;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanQuery;
-import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanTermQuery;
 
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.SpanAttributeQuery;
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.util.QueryException;
@@ -47,12 +46,6 @@
             return null;
         }
 
-        if (sq instanceof SpanTermQuery) {
-            return new SpanAttributeQuery((SpanTermQuery) sq, isNegative, true);
-        }
-        else {
-            throw new QueryException(
-                    "SpanAttributeQuery only supports SpanTermQuery.");
-        }
+        return new SpanAttributeQuery(sq, isNegative, true);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanWithAttributeQueryWrapper.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanWithAttributeQueryWrapper.java
index 70e816a..b4bc359 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanWithAttributeQueryWrapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanWithAttributeQueryWrapper.java
@@ -4,13 +4,11 @@
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanQuery;
-import org.apache.lucene.search.spans.SpanTermQuery;
 
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.SimpleSpanQuery;
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.SpanAttributeQuery;
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.SpanWithAttributeQuery;
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.util.QueryException;
-import de.ids_mannheim.korap.util.StatusCodes;
 
 /**
  * No optimization using expansion
@@ -178,14 +176,8 @@
         if (sq != null) {
             if (sq instanceof SpanAttributeQuery)
                 return (SpanAttributeQuery) sq;
-            if (sq instanceof SpanTermQuery) {
-                return new SpanAttributeQuery((SpanTermQuery) sq,
-                        attrQueryWrapper.isNegative, true);
-            }
-            else {
-                throw new QueryException(StatusCodes.UNSUPPORTED_QUERY,
-                        "SpanAttributeQuery only supports SpanTermQuery.");
-            }
+            return new SpanAttributeQuery(sq,
+                    attrQueryWrapper.isNegative, true);
         }
         return null;
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestSpanWithAttributeJSON.java b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestSpanWithAttributeJSON.java
index 877a37f..73b21a0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestSpanWithAttributeJSON.java
+++ b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestSpanWithAttributeJSON.java
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.wrap.SpanQueryWrapper;
 import de.ids_mannheim.korap.util.QueryException;
-import de.ids_mannheim.korap.util.StatusCodes;
 
 public class TestSpanWithAttributeJSON {
     @Test
@@ -19,13 +18,10 @@
                         "/queries/attribute/element-regex-attribute.jsonld")
                 .getFile();
         SpanQueryWrapper sqwi = getJsonQuery(filepath);
-
-        QueryException exception = assertThrows(QueryException.class, () -> {
-            sqwi.toQuery();
-        });
-        assertEquals("SpanAttributeQuery only supports SpanTermQuery.",
-                exception.getMessage());
-        assertEquals(StatusCodes.UNSUPPORTED_QUERY, exception.getErrorCode());
+        SpanQuery sq = sqwi.toQuery();
+        assertEquals(
+                "spanElementWithAttribute(<tokens:head />, spanAttribute(SpanMultiTermQueryWrapper(tokens:/@:type:top.*/)))",
+                sq.toString());
     }
 
     @Test