diff --git a/completions/sysctl b/completions/sysctl
index 0ab37129..b3fa3fcc 100644
--- a/completions/sysctl
+++ b/completions/sysctl
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ _sysctl()
     esac
 
     if [[ $cur == -* ]]; then
-        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '$( _parse_usage "$1" )' -- "$cur" ) )
+        local opts="$( _parse_help "$1" )"
+        [[ $opts ]] || opts="$( _parse_usage "$1" )"
+        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$opts" -- "$cur" ) )
     else
         local suffix=
         [[ $prev == -w ]] && suffix==