diff --git a/docs/docs/01-ibc/02-integration.md b/docs/docs/01-ibc/02-integration.md
index dcf2e52efad..104909aad60 100644
--- a/docs/docs/01-ibc/02-integration.md
+++ b/docs/docs/01-ibc/02-integration.md
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ func NewApp(...args) *App {
 
 #### IBC v2 Router
 
-With IBC v2, there is a new [router](https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/blob/main/modules/core/api/router.go) that needs to register the routes for a portID to a given IBCModule. 
+With IBC v2, there is a new [router](https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/blob/main/modules/core/api/router.go) that needs to register the routes for a portID to a given IBCModule. It routes IBCv2 messages based on the prefixes of port IDs. For example, if a route named `someModule` exists, messages addressed to port IDs like `someModuleRandomPort1`, `someModuleRandomPort2`, etc., will be passed to the corresponding module.
 
 ```go
 // IBC v2 router creation
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 846110abeb3..aa9f54a1dbe 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/DataDog/datadog-go v4.8.3+incompatible // indirect
 	github.com/DataDog/zstd v1.5.5 // indirect
 	github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.6.2 // indirect
+	github.com/armon/go-radix v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.224 // indirect
 	github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/bgentry/go-netrc v0.0.0-20140422174119-9fd32a8b3d3d // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7dcfe13a9f2..c7a23b7a66a 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -246,6 +246,8 @@ github.com/apache/thrift v0.13.0/go.mod h1:cp2SuWMxlEZw2r+iP2GNCdIi4C1qmUzdZFSVb
 github.com/armon/circbuf v0.0.0-20150827004946-bbbad097214e/go.mod h1:3U/XgcO3hCbHZ8TKRvWD2dDTCfh9M9ya+I9JpbB7O8o=
 github.com/armon/go-metrics v0.0.0-20180917152333-f0300d1749da/go.mod h1:Q73ZrmVTwzkszR9V5SSuryQ31EELlFMUz1kKyl939pY=
 github.com/armon/go-radix v0.0.0-20180808171621-7fddfc383310/go.mod h1:ufUuZ+zHj4x4TnLV4JWEpy2hxWSpsRywHrMgIH9cCH8=
+github.com/armon/go-radix v1.0.0 h1:F4z6KzEeeQIMeLFa97iZU6vupzoecKdU5TX24SNppXI=
+github.com/armon/go-radix v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ufUuZ+zHj4x4TnLV4JWEpy2hxWSpsRywHrMgIH9cCH8=
 github.com/aryann/difflib v0.0.0-20170710044230-e206f873d14a/go.mod h1:DAHtR1m6lCRdSC2Tm3DSWRPvIPr6xNKyeHdqDQSQT+A=
 github.com/aws/aws-lambda-go v1.13.3/go.mod h1:4UKl9IzQMoD+QF79YdCuzCwp8VbmG4VAQwij/eHl5CU=
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.27.0/go.mod h1:KmX6BPdI08NWTb3/sm4ZGu5ShLoqVDhKgpiN924inxo=
diff --git a/modules/core/api/router.go b/modules/core/api/router.go
index 753bfc7f9c0..6e90d1dbe66 100644
--- a/modules/core/api/router.go
+++ b/modules/core/api/router.go
@@ -4,48 +4,54 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
+	radix "github.com/armon/go-radix"
 	sdk "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types"
 )
 
 // Router contains all the module-defined callbacks required by IBC Protocol V2.
 type Router struct {
-	// routes is a map from portID to IBCModule
-	routes map[string]IBCModule
+	// routes is a radix trie that provides a prefix-based
+	// look-up structure. It maps portIDs and their prefixes to
+	// IBCModules.
+	routes radix.Tree
 }
 
 // NewRouter creates a new Router instance.
 func NewRouter() *Router {
 	return &Router{
-		routes: make(map[string]IBCModule),
+		routes: *radix.New(),
 	}
 }
 
-// AddRoute registers a route for a given portID to a given IBCModule.
-func (rtr *Router) AddRoute(portID string, cbs IBCModule) *Router {
-	if !sdk.IsAlphaNumeric(portID) {
+// AddRoute registers a route for a given port ID prefix to a given IBCModule.
+// Panics if a prefix of portIDprefix is already a registered route.
+func (rtr *Router) AddRoute(portIDprefix string, cbs IBCModule) *Router {
+	if !sdk.IsAlphaNumeric(portIDprefix) {
 		panic(errors.New("route expressions can only contain alphanumeric characters"))
 	}
 
-	if rtr.HasRoute(portID) {
-		panic(fmt.Errorf("route %s has already been registered", portID))
+	prefixExists, prefix := rtr.HasRoute(portIDprefix)
+	if prefixExists {
+		panic(fmt.Errorf("route %s has already been covered by registered prefix: %s", portIDprefix, prefix))
 	}
 
-	rtr.routes[portID] = cbs
+	rtr.routes.Insert(portIDprefix, cbs)
 
 	return rtr
 }
 
 // Route returns the IBCModule for a given portID.
 func (rtr *Router) Route(portID string) IBCModule {
-	route, ok := rtr.routes[portID]
+	_, route, ok := rtr.routes.LongestPrefix(portID)
 	if !ok {
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("no route for %s", portID))
 	}
-	return route
+	return route.(IBCModule)
 }
 
-// HasRoute returns true if the Router has a module registered for the portID or false otherwise.
-func (rtr *Router) HasRoute(portID string) bool {
-	_, ok := rtr.routes[portID]
-	return ok
+// HasPrefixRoute returns true if the Router has a module registered for the given portID or its prefix.
+// Returns false otherwise.
+func (rtr *Router) HasRoute(portID string) (bool, string) {
+	prefix, _, ok := rtr.routes.LongestPrefix(portID)
+	return ok, prefix
 }
diff --git a/modules/core/api/router_test.go b/modules/core/api/router_test.go
index 9e0e8be5921..2a76ec01771 100644
--- a/modules/core/api/router_test.go
+++ b/modules/core/api/router_test.go
@@ -35,13 +35,29 @@ func (suite *APITestSuite) TestRouter() {
 				suite.Require().True(router.HasRoute("port03"))
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "success: prefix based routing works",
+			malleate: func() {
+				router.AddRoute("somemodule", &mockv2.IBCModule{})
+				router.AddRoute("port01", &mockv2.IBCModule{})
+			},
+			assertionFn: func() {
+				suite.Require().True(router.HasRoute("somemodule"))
+				suite.Require().True(router.HasRoute("somemoduleport01"))
+				ok, prefix := router.HasRoute("somemoduleport01")
+				suite.Require().Equal(true, ok)
+				suite.Require().Equal("somemodule", prefix)
+				suite.Require().NotNil(router.Route("somemoduleport01"))
+				suite.Require().True(router.HasRoute("port01"))
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "failure: panics on duplicate module",
 			malleate: func() {
 				router.AddRoute("port01", &mockv2.IBCModule{})
 			},
 			assertionFn: func() {
-				suite.Require().PanicsWithError("route port01 has already been registered", func() {
+				suite.Require().PanicsWithError("route port01 has already been covered by registered prefix: port01", func() {
 					router.AddRoute("port01", &mockv2.IBCModule{})
 				})
 			},
@@ -55,6 +71,16 @@ func (suite *APITestSuite) TestRouter() {
 				})
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "failure: panics conflicting routes registered",
+			malleate: func() {},
+			assertionFn: func() {
+				suite.Require().PanicsWithError("route someModuleWithSpecificPath has already been covered by registered prefix: someModule", func() {
+					router.AddRoute("someModule", &mockv2.IBCModule{})
+					router.AddRoute("someModuleWithSpecificPath", &mockv2.IBCModule{})
+				})
+			},
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		suite.Run(tc.name, func() {