diff --git a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
index 8db03096108..693f078f321 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
@@ -881,7 +881,8 @@ def parse_file(
     )
 
     for i, line in enumerate(lines):
-        if line.rstrip() in exclude_lines:
+        line = line.rstrip()
+        if not line or line in exclude_lines:
             continue
 
         extra_words_to_ignore = set()