diff --git a/src/frontend/variable.c b/src/frontend/variable.c
index ad239e1bb..8b1b6d1f6 100644
--- a/src/frontend/variable.c
+++ b/src/frontend/variable.c
@@ -740,7 +740,7 @@ cp_variablesubst(wordlist *wlist)
 wordlist *
 vareval(char *string)
 {
-    struct variable *v;
+    struct variable *v, *vfree = NULL;
     wordlist *wl;
     char buf[BSIZE_SP], *s;
     char *oldstring = copy(string);
@@ -782,9 +782,10 @@ vareval(char *string)
             if (eq(v->va_name, string))
                 break;
         if (!v)
-            v = cp_enqvar(string);
+            vfree = v = cp_enqvar(string);
         wl = wl_cons(copy(v ? "1" : "0"), NULL);
         tfree(oldstring);
+        free_struct_variable(vfree);
         return (wl);
 
     case '#':
@@ -793,7 +794,7 @@ vareval(char *string)
             if (eq(v->va_name, string))
                 break;
         if (!v)
-            v = cp_enqvar(string);
+            vfree = v = cp_enqvar(string);
         if (!v) {
             fprintf(cp_err, "Error: %s: no such variable.\n", string);
             tfree(oldstring);
@@ -806,6 +807,7 @@ vareval(char *string)
             i = (v->va_type != CP_BOOL);
         wl = wl_cons(tprintf("%d", i), NULL);
         tfree(oldstring);
+        free_struct_variable(vfree);
         return (wl);
 
     case '\0':
@@ -830,7 +832,7 @@ vareval(char *string)
     if (!v) {
         range = NULL;
         string = oldstring;
-        v = cp_enqvar(string);
+        vfree = v = cp_enqvar(string);
     }
     if (!v && (s = getenv(string)) != NULL) {
         wl = wl_cons(copy(s), NULL);
@@ -843,6 +845,7 @@ vareval(char *string)
         return (NULL);
     }
     wl = cp_varwl(v);
+    free_struct_variable(vfree);
 
     /* Now parse and deal with 'range' ... */
     if (range) {