diff --git a/docs/thread-safety.md b/docs/thread-safety.md
index 76ccc36..62ecd08 100644
--- a/docs/thread-safety.md
+++ b/docs/thread-safety.md
@@ -14,9 +14,11 @@ What that covers:
   against each other and against lookups. Two threads reserving the same range
   cannot both win — exactly one gets `NULL` and the other gets
   `AKERR_STATUS_RANGE_OVERLAP` naming the winner.
-* **Per-thread state.** The context behind `IGNORE` (`__akerr_last_ignored`) and
-  the last-ditch context used to report `akerr_release_error(NULL)` are
-  thread-local, so one thread's ignored error is never another's.
+* **Per-thread state.** `IGNORE` uses `__akerr_last_ignored` as a scratch pointer
+  while it logs an error, then releases the context and clears the pointer.
+  That scratch pointer and the last-ditch context used to report
+  `akerr_release_error(NULL)` are thread-local, so concurrent calls cannot
+  overwrite each other's state.
 * **Handing a context from one thread to another.** A context is not thread
   state — it lives in `AKERR_ARRAY_ERROR`, which is process-global — so it
   outlives the thread that raised it. The reference count is the only field the
diff --git a/include/akerror.tmpl.h b/include/akerror.tmpl.h
index ede8fcc..ed5e5e5 100644
--- a/include/akerror.tmpl.h
+++ b/include/akerror.tmpl.h
@@ -173,9 +173,10 @@ extern akerr_ErrorContext AKERR_ARRAY_ERROR[AKERR_MAX_ARRAY_ERROR];
 extern akerr_ErrorUnhandledErrorHandler akerr_handler_unhandled_error;
 extern akerr_ErrorLogFunction akerr_log_method;
 /*
- * The error IGNORE() last swallowed, per thread: an ignored error is a fact
- * about the thread that ignored it, and one shared slot would have two threads
- * overwriting each other's. Thread local only when AKERR_THREAD_SAFE is 1.
+ * IGNORE()'s per-thread scratch pointer. It is non-NULL only while IGNORE()
+ * logs the swallowed error; IGNORE() releases the context and clears this
+ * pointer before returning to its caller. Thread local only when
+ * AKERR_THREAD_SAFE is 1.
  */
 extern AKERR_THREAD_LOCAL akerr_ErrorContext *__akerr_last_ignored;
 
@@ -437,6 +438,7 @@ akerr_ErrorContext AKERR_NOIGNORE *__akerr_copy_string(char *destination, int ca
     __akerr_last_ignored = __stmt;					\
     if ( __akerr_last_ignored != NULL ) {				\
 	LOG_ERROR_WITH_MESSAGE(__akerr_last_ignored, "** IGNORED ERROR **"); \
+	RELEASE_ERROR(__akerr_last_ignored);				\
     }
 
 #define CLEANUP					\
diff --git a/tests/err_ignore.c b/tests/err_ignore.c
index f52ca55..6282928 100644
--- a/tests/err_ignore.c
+++ b/tests/err_ignore.c
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 #include "akerror.h"
 #include "err_capture.h"
 
-/*
- * IGNORE deliberately swallows an error: it records the context in
- * __akerr_last_ignored, logs it with an "IGNORED ERROR" marker, and lets
- * execution continue.
- */
+/* IGNORE logs and releases an error, then lets execution continue. */
 
 akerr_ErrorContext *boom(void)
 {
@@ -21,11 +17,15 @@ int main(void)
     PREPARE_ERROR(e);
     (void)e;
 
-    IGNORE(boom());
+    /* More failures than the pool has slots must remain safe: a leaking
+     * IGNORE used to exhaust the pool and terminate the process here. */
+    for ( int i = 0; i < AKERR_MAX_ARRAY_ERROR + 1; i++ ) {
+	IGNORE(boom());
+	AKERR_CHECK(__akerr_last_ignored == NULL);
+	AKERR_CHECK(akerr_slots_in_use() == 0);
+    }
     reached_after_ignore = 1;
 
-    AKERR_CHECK(__akerr_last_ignored != NULL);
-    AKERR_CHECK(__akerr_last_ignored->status == AKERR_VALUE);
     AKERR_CHECK(reached_after_ignore == 1);
     AKERR_CHECK_CONTAINS("IGNORED ERROR");
     AKERR_CHECK_CONTAINS("this error is ignored on purpose");
diff --git a/tests/err_threads_pool.c b/tests/err_threads_pool.c
index 54a33e4..1b80908 100644
--- a/tests/err_threads_pool.c
+++ b/tests/err_threads_pool.c
@@ -90,9 +90,6 @@ static void one_checkout(akerr_ThreadArg *arg)
 static void *pool_body(void *raw)
 {
     akerr_ThreadArg *arg = raw;
-    char expected[64];
-
-    snprintf(expected, sizeof(expected), "ignored by thread %d", arg->id);
     pthread_barrier_wait(arg->barrier);
 
     for ( int i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++ ) {
@@ -100,17 +97,10 @@ static void *pool_body(void *raw)
 	one_checkout(arg);
     }
 
-    /* An ignored error is a fact about the thread that ignored it: each thread
-     * must see its own, not the last one any thread swallowed. */
+    /* IGNORE's scratch pointer is thread-local while logging and cleared after
+     * release. Concurrent ignored errors must all return their pool slots. */
     IGNORE(ignorable(arg));
-    AKERR_TCHECK(arg, __akerr_last_ignored != NULL);
-    if ( __akerr_last_ignored != NULL ) {
-	AKERR_TCHECK(arg, __akerr_last_ignored->status == AKERR_IO);
-	AKERR_TCHECK(arg, strcmp(__akerr_last_ignored->message, expected) == 0);
-    }
-    /* IGNORE keeps the reference by design; hand it back so the pool is empty
-     * at the end of the test. */
-    RELEASE_ERROR(__akerr_last_ignored);
+    AKERR_TCHECK(arg, __akerr_last_ignored == NULL);
 
     return NULL;
 }