diff --git src/wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php src/wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php
index 85439b4..7368b46 100644
--- src/wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php
+++ src/wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php
@@ -2670,7 +2670,7 @@ function dbDelta( $queries = '', $execute = true ) {
 			if ( array_key_exists( $tablefield_field_lowercased, $cfields ) ) {
 
 				// Get the field type from the query.
-				preg_match( '|`?' . $tablefield->Field . '`? ([^ ]*( unsigned)?)|i', $cfields[ $tablefield_field_lowercased ], $matches );
+				preg_match( '|`?' . $tablefield->Field . '`?\s+([^ ]*( unsigned)?)|i', $cfields[ $tablefield_field_lowercased ], $matches );
 				$fieldtype            = $matches[1];
 				$fieldtype_lowercased = strtolower( $fieldtype );
 
diff --git tests/phpunit/tests/dbdelta.php tests/phpunit/tests/dbdelta.php
index 1e9c93f..c1b64cc 100644
--- tests/phpunit/tests/dbdelta.php
+++ tests/phpunit/tests/dbdelta.php
@@ -996,4 +996,31 @@ class Tests_dbDelta extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			$updates
 		);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @ticket 44767
+	 */
+	function test_ignore_change_with_space_between_column_and_type() {
+		global $wpdb;
+
+		$schema = "
+			CREATE TABLE {$wpdb->prefix}dbdelta_test3 (
+				`foo-bar`      varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL
+			)
+		";
+
+		$wpdb->query( $schema );
+
+		$schema_update = "
+			CREATE TABLE {$wpdb->prefix}dbdelta_test3 (
+				`foo-bar`      varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL
+			)
+		";
+
+		$updates = dbDelta( $schema_update );
+
+		$wpdb->query( "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS {$wpdb->prefix}dbdelta_test3" );
+
+		$this->assertEmpty( $updates );
+	}
 }