diff --git a/.github/workflows/pypi-release.yml b/.github/workflows/pypi-release.yml
index a1d62a84e..ae2a7de26 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pypi-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pypi-release.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ jobs:
               uses: actions/checkout@v4
             - name: Create release
               run: |
+                  VERSION=$(./scripts/version-core)
+                  if pip index versions pyglossary --pre  | grep "$VERSION," ; then
+                      echo 'Package version $VERSION already exists on pypi'
+                      exit 0
+                  fi
                   sudo rm -rf dist/* build/* || true
                   python3 setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
             - name: Publish package distributions to PyPI
diff --git a/scripts/version-core b/scripts/version-core
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f78d77e36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/version-core
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+sourceDir=$(dirname $(dirname "$0"))
+
+while read -r line; do
+	if [[ $line = VERSION* ]]; then
+		echo "$line" | sed 's/VERSION\s*=\s*//' | sed 's/"//g'
+		exit 0
+	fi
+done <"$sourceDir/pyglossary/core.py"