diff --git a/addons/website/models/website_menu.py b/addons/website/models/website_menu.py
index 736393f7cd8..af54eea1430 100644
--- a/addons/website/models/website_menu.py
+++ b/addons/website/models/website_menu.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import werkzeug.exceptions
 import werkzeug.urls
 
 from odoo import api, fields, models
+from odoo.addons.http_routing.models.ir_http import unslug_url
 from odoo.http import request
 from odoo.tools.translate import html_translate
 
@@ -123,8 +124,7 @@ class Menu(models.Model):
                 visible = False
             menu.is_visible = visible
 
-    @api.model
-    def clean_url(self):
+    def _clean_url(self):
         # clean the url with heuristic
         if self.page_id:
             url = self.page_id.sudo().url
@@ -138,6 +138,29 @@ class Menu(models.Model):
                     url = '/%s' % self.url
         return url
 
+    def _is_active(self):
+        if not request:
+            return False
+
+        request_url = unslug_url(request.httprequest.path)
+
+        if not self.child_id:
+            # Don't compare to `url` as it could be shadowed by the linked
+            # website page's URL
+            menu_url = self._clean_url()
+            if not menu_url:
+                return False
+            menu_url = unslug_url(menu_url)
+            if request_url == menu_url:
+                return True
+        else:
+            # Child match (dropdown menu), `self` is just a parent/container,
+            # don't check its URL, consider only its children
+            if any(request_url == unslug_url(child.url) for child in self.child_id if child.url):
+                return True
+
+        return False
+
     # would be better to take a menu_id as argument
     @api.model
     def get_tree(self, website_id, menu_id=None):
diff --git a/addons/website/views/website_templates.xml b/addons/website/views/website_templates.xml
index 6f4708115fe..8889c16fb64 100644
--- a/addons/website/views/website_templates.xml
+++ b/addons/website/views/website_templates.xml
@@ -4,19 +4,17 @@
 <template id="submenu" name="Submenu">
     <t t-set="show_dropdown" t-value="(submenu.is_mega_menu and submenu.is_visible) or submenu.child_id.filtered(lambda menu: menu.is_visible)"/>
     <li t-if="submenu.is_visible and not (submenu.child_id or submenu.is_mega_menu)" t-attf-class="#{item_class or ''}">
-        <a t-att-href="submenu.clean_url()"
-            t-attf-class="#{link_class or ''} #{'active' if submenu.clean_url() and unslug_url(request.httprequest.path) == unslug_url(submenu.clean_url()) else ''}"
+        <a t-att-href="submenu._clean_url()"
+            t-attf-class="#{link_class or ''} #{submenu._is_active() and 'active'}"
             role="menuitem"
             t-ignore="true"
             t-att-target="'_blank' if submenu.new_window else None">
             <span t-field="submenu.name"/>
         </a>
     </li>
-    <li t-elif="show_dropdown" t-attf-class="#{item_class or ''} dropdown #{
-        (submenu.clean_url() and submenu.clean_url() != '/' and any(request.httprequest.path == child.url for child in submenu.child_id if child.url) or
-         (submenu.clean_url() and request.httprequest.path == submenu.clean_url())) and 'active'
-        } #{submenu.is_mega_menu and 'position-static'}">
-        <a t-attf-class="#{link_class or ''} dropdown-toggle #{submenu.is_mega_menu and 'o_mega_menu_toggle'}" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" href="#">
+    <li t-elif="show_dropdown" t-attf-class="#{item_class or ''} dropdown #{submenu.is_mega_menu and 'position-static'}">
+        <a t-attf-class="#{link_class or ''} dropdown-toggle #{submenu.is_mega_menu and 'o_mega_menu_toggle'} #{submenu._is_active() and 'active'}"
+           data-bs-toggle="dropdown" href="#">
             <span t-field="submenu.name"/>
         </a>
         <div t-if="submenu.is_mega_menu"