diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/varLib/featureVars.py b/Lib/fontTools/varLib/featureVars.py
index 4caf30a22..e3aa6b6e7 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/varLib/featureVars.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/varLib/featureVars.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ def overlayFeatureVariations(conditionalSubstitutions):
     and rules with the same Box merged.  The more specific rules appear earlier
     in the resulting list.  Moreover, instead of just a dictionary of substitutions,
     a list of dictionaries is returned for substitutions corresponding to each
-    uniq space, with each dictionary being identical to one of the input
+    unique space, with each dictionary being identical to one of the input
     substitution dictionaries.  These dictionaries are not merged to allow data
     sharing when they are converted into font tables.
 
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ def overlayFeatureVariations(conditionalSubstitutions):
     >>> condSubst = [
     ...     # A list of (Region, Substitution) tuples.
     ...     ([{"wght": (0.5, 1.0)}], {"dollar": "dollar.rvrn"}),
+    ...     ([{"wght": (0.5, 1.0)}], {"dollar": "dollar.rvrn"}),
     ...     ([{"wdth": (0.5, 1.0)}], {"cent": "cent.rvrn"}),
     ... ]
     >>> from pprint import pprint
@@ -107,7 +108,8 @@ def overlayFeatureVariations(conditionalSubstitutions):
     # rules for the same region.
     merged = OrderedDict()
     for key,value in reversed(conditionalSubstitutions):
-        key = tuple(sorted(hashdict(cleanupBox(k)) for k in key))
+        key = tuple(sorted((hashdict(cleanupBox(k)) for k in key),
+                           key=lambda d: tuple(sorted(d.items()))))
         if key in merged:
             merged[key].update(value)
         else: