diff --git a/decode_test.go b/decode_test.go
index bc3ce55..5ee3e6b 100644
--- a/decode_test.go
+++ b/decode_test.go
@@ -1423,3 +1423,57 @@ func (b *ctxBoth) UnmarshalTOML(data any) error {
 	b.plainCalled = true
 	return nil
 }
+
+func TestEmbeddedMapRule(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("only the first embedded map takes the leftover keys", func(t *testing.T) {
+		type ExtraMap map[string]any
+		type MoreMap map[string]any
+		type Config struct {
+			Port int
+			ExtraMap
+			MoreMap
+		}
+		var cfg Config
+		in := []byte("port = 8080\nlang = \"cs\"\nregion = \"EU\"\n")
+		if err := Unmarshal(in, &cfg); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if cfg.Port != 8080 {
+			t.Errorf("port = %d", cfg.Port)
+		}
+		if cfg.ExtraMap["lang"] != "cs" || cfg.ExtraMap["region"] != "EU" {
+			t.Errorf("extra = %v, want the leftover keys", cfg.ExtraMap)
+		}
+		if len(cfg.MoreMap) != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("more = %v, want empty: only the first embedded map is the filler", cfg.MoreMap)
+		}
+	})
+	t.Run("a tagged embedded map is an ordinary field", func(t *testing.T) {
+		type Config struct {
+			Extra map[string]any `toml:"extra"`
+		}
+		var cfg Config
+		if err := Unmarshal([]byte("extra = {a = 1}\n"), &cfg); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if cfg.Extra["a"] != int64(1) {
+			t.Errorf("extra = %v", cfg.Extra)
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestDecodeMergesIntoNonEmptyMap(t *testing.T) {
+	dst := map[string]any{"keep": "me", "port": 1}
+	if err := Unmarshal([]byte("port = 8080\nlang = \"cs\"\n"), &dst); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if dst["keep"] != "me" {
+		t.Errorf("keep = %v, want the pre-existing key kept", dst["keep"])
+	}
+	if dst["port"] != int64(8080) {
+		t.Errorf("port = %v, want the document's value to win", dst["port"])
+	}
+	if dst["lang"] != "cs" {
+		t.Errorf("lang = %v, want the key added", dst["lang"])
+	}
+}
diff --git a/docs/API.md b/docs/API.md
index fad99e6..f6744fd 100644
--- a/docs/API.md
+++ b/docs/API.md
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@ table with `Number`, which keeps the literal; see
 
 - `*struct`, matched per the field rules below
 - `*map[string]any` or `*map[string]T`, keys become map keys and values decode
-  into `T` recursively
+  into `T` recursively; a map that already holds entries is merged into, the
+  document's values replacing same-named keys and the rest left standing
 - `*OrderedMap`, the keys fill in the order the document wrote them; see
   [Ordered tables](#ordered-tables)
 - `*any`, receives the whole parsed tree unchanged
@@ -220,7 +221,9 @@ For a struct destination, a TOML key matches a field as follows:
    into the embedded struct and matches its own fields against the same keys,
    mirroring how the encoder flattens it. A nil embedded pointer struct is
    allocated on demand. An untagged embedded map receives the keys no field
-   claims.
+   claims; when a struct embeds several untagged maps, the first one
+   declared takes all of them and the rest stay untouched, so the rule stays
+   predictable.
 4. The key itself is lower-cased before lookup, so the match is
    case-insensitive on both sides: `DATABASEURL` matches a field named
    `DatabaseUrl`.