diff --git a/poi-ooxml/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFTableCell.java b/poi-ooxml/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFTableCell.java
index f3044af3fd..8537df186d 100644
--- a/poi-ooxml/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFTableCell.java
+++ b/poi-ooxml/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFTableCell.java
@@ -421,7 +421,28 @@ public class XWPFTableCell implements IBody, ICell {
         return text.toString();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set the text of the cell to the passed string, replacing previous content. Up until POI 5.2.3, this method appended the text, which is now done
+     * by {@link XWPFTableCell#appendText(String)}.
+     *
+     * @param text The text to replace the cell content with
+     */
     public void setText(String text) {
+        XWPFParagraph par = paragraphs.isEmpty() ? addParagraph() : paragraphs.get(0);
+        while (!par.runsIsEmpty()) {
+            par.removeRun(0);
+        }
+        par.createRun().setText(text);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Append the passed string to the cell content.
+     * This was the behaviour of {@link XWPFTableCell#setText(String)} before POI 5.2.4
+     *
+     * @param text The text to append to the cells content.
+     * @since POI 5.2.4
+     */
+    public void appendText(String text) {
         XWPFParagraph par = paragraphs.isEmpty() ? addParagraph() : paragraphs.get(0);
         par.createRun().setText(text);
     }
diff --git a/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/TestXWPFBugs.java b/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/TestXWPFBugs.java
index 8afaaecb2d..7b20827b78 100644
--- a/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/TestXWPFBugs.java
+++ b/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/TestXWPFBugs.java
@@ -329,6 +329,17 @@ class TestXWPFBugs {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void bug66988() throws IOException {
+        try (XWPFDocument document = XWPFTestDataSamples.openSampleDocument("Bug66988.docx")) {
+            XWPFTableCell cell = document.getTableArray(0).getRow(0).getCell(0);
+            cell.appendText("World");
+            assertEquals("HelloWorld", cell.getText());
+            cell.setText("FooBar");
+            assertEquals("FooBar", cell.getText());
+        }
+    }
+
     private static void addNumberingWithAbstractId(XWPFNumbering documentNumbering, int id){
         // create a numbering scheme
         CTAbstractNum cTAbstractNum = CTAbstractNum.Factory.newInstance();
diff --git a/test-data/document/Bug66988.docx b/test-data/document/Bug66988.docx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4b7a781bc3
Binary files /dev/null and b/test-data/document/Bug66988.docx differ