diff --git a/src/variable.jl b/src/variable.jl
index 4be29fdc6..aba9ba502 100644
--- a/src/variable.jl
+++ b/src/variable.jl
@@ -471,11 +471,11 @@ Also see `variables`.
 """
 function variable(name, idx...; T=Real)
     name_ij = Symbol(name, join(map_subscripts.(idx), "ˏ"))
+    v = Sym{T}(name_ij)
     if T <: FnType
-        first(@variables $name_ij(..))
-    else
-        first(@variables $name_ij::T)
+        v = CallWithMetadata(v)
     end
+    Num(setmetadata(v, VariableSource, (:variables, name_ij)))
 end
 
 ##### Renaming #####
diff --git a/test/macro.jl b/test/macro.jl
index bc8ca78ee..5d9f417a0 100644
--- a/test/macro.jl
+++ b/test/macro.jl
@@ -158,3 +158,15 @@ let
     @test foo(x) isa Num
     @test foo(unwrap(x)) isa BasicSymbolic
 end
+
+@variables t y(t)
+yy = Symbolics.variable(:y, T = Symbolics.FnType{Tuple{Any}, Real})
+yyy = yy(t)
+@test isequal(yyy, y)
+@test yyy isa Num
+@test y isa Num
+yy = Symbolics.variable(:y, T = Symbolics.FnType{Tuple, Real})
+yyy = yy(t)
+@test !isequal(yyy, y)
+@variables y(..)
+@test isequal(yyy, y(t))