diff --git a/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/lora.py b/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/lora.py
index a3daf85de..2adb5c2a1 100644
--- a/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/lora.py
+++ b/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/lora.py
@@ -340,16 +340,11 @@ def apply_lora_to_linear_modules(
     for w in model.parameters():
         w.requires_grad_(False)
 
-    is_causal_lm = False
-    try:
-        if hasattr(model, "config") and "CausalLM" in model.config.architectures[0]:
-            # for example, LlamaForCausalLM
-            is_causal_lm = True
-    except AttributeError:
-        is_causal_lm = False
-
     matcher = ModuleMatcher(
-        peft_config.target_modules, peft_config.exclude_modules, peft_config.match_all_linear, is_causal_lm
+        peft_config.target_modules,
+        peft_config.exclude_modules,
+        peft_config.match_all_linear,
+        model,
     )
     num_modules_matched = 0
     for name, module in list(model.named_modules()):
diff --git a/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/module_matcher.py b/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/module_matcher.py
index b2974263b..fd7c971bb 100644
--- a/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/module_matcher.py
+++ b/nemo_automodel/components/_peft/module_matcher.py
@@ -37,6 +37,28 @@ def wildcard_match(pattern, key):
     return match is not None
 
 
+def _get_model_embedding_ptrs(model: nn.Module) -> list[str]:
+    ptrs = []
+    for name, module in model.named_modules():
+        if not isinstance(module, nn.Embedding):
+            continue
+        ptrs.append(module.weight.data_ptr())
+    return ptrs
+
+
+def _get_tied_target_modules(model: nn.Module) -> list[str]:
+    if model is None:
+        return []
+    tied_target_modules = []
+    embedding_ptrs = set(_get_model_embedding_ptrs(model))
+    for name, module in model.named_modules():
+        if not isinstance(module, nn.Linear):
+            continue
+        if module.weight.data_ptr() in embedding_ptrs:
+            tied_target_modules.append(name)
+    return tied_target_modules
+
+
 @dataclass
 class ModuleMatcher:
     """
@@ -55,13 +77,13 @@ class ModuleMatcher:
                 on the first two layers.
         exclude_modules (List[str], optional): A list of module names to exclude from applying LoRA to.
         match_all_linear (bool, optional): Whether to match all linear layers.
-        is_causal_lm (bool, optional): Whether the model is a causal language model.
+        model (nn.Module, optional): The model to match modules on.
     """
 
     target_modules: List[str] = field(default_factory=lambda: ["linear_qkv", "linear_proj", "linear_fc1", "linear_fc2"])
     exclude_modules: List[str] = field(default_factory=list)
     match_all_linear: bool = field(default=False)
-    is_causal_lm: bool = field(default=False)
+    model: nn.Module = field(default=None)
 
     def __post_init__(self):
         """
@@ -77,6 +99,7 @@ def __post_init__(self):
             and (not isinstance(self.exclude_modules, list) or len(self.exclude_modules) == 0)
         ):
             raise ValueError("Expected match_all_linear to be true or target_modules/exclude_modules to be non-empty")
+        self.tied_target_modules = _get_tied_target_modules(self.model)
 
     # --------------------------------------------------------------------- #
     # Public API                                                            #
@@ -85,12 +108,10 @@ def match(self, m: nn.Module, name: str = None, prefix: str = None):
         """
         Return (pattern, full_name) if the module matches; otherwise None.
         """
-        full_name = f"{prefix}.{name}" if prefix else name
-
-        if self.is_causal_lm:
-            if "lm_head" in full_name:
-                return False
+        if m in self.tied_target_modules:
+            return False
 
+        full_name = f"{prefix}.{name}" if prefix else name
         # 1. matching by layer type takes absolute precedence
         if self.match_all_linear and isinstance(m, nn.Linear):
             return True