diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/linearize.py b/tinygrad/codegen/linearize.py
index ebe86ad77d..d3c73559c6 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/linearize.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/linearize.py
@@ -2,12 +2,11 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 from typing import List, Dict, Tuple, Optional
 import collections
 from dataclasses import dataclass
-from tinygrad.ops import type_verify, UOp, Ops, PatternMatcher, UPat, graph_rewrite
+from tinygrad.ops import type_verify, UOp, Ops, PatternMatcher, UPat, graph_rewrite, GroupOp
 from tinygrad.dtype import dtypes, PtrDType
 from tinygrad.helpers import dedup, flatten, partition
 
-DONT_PLACE_IN_BLOCK = {Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL, Ops.DEFINE_VAR, Ops.SPECIAL, Ops.CONST,
-                       Ops.BLOCK, Ops.BLOCKEND, Ops.BLOCKFORK, Ops.BLOCKSTART}
+DONT_PLACE_IN_BLOCK = {Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL, Ops.DEFINE_VAR, Ops.SPECIAL, Ops.CONST, *GroupOp.Block}
 
 def disp(y:UOp) -> str:
   if y.op is Ops.BLOCKSTART: return "w"+disp(y.src[0])
@@ -29,32 +28,44 @@ def append_to_block(ctx:Tuple[Dict[UOp, Tuple[UOp, ...]], Dict[UOp, List[UOp]]],
   block_ctxs, children = ctx
   new_srcs: List[UOp] = []
   to_append: List[UOp] = []
+  old_blocks: Dict[Tuple[UOp, ...], UOp] = {}
   new_blocks: Dict[Tuple[UOp, ...], List[UOp]] = {}
-  bb: BasicBlock = x.arg
-  in_this_block = set(bb.lst)
+  in_this_block = set(x.arg.lst)
   for u in x.src:
-    if u.op in DONT_PLACE_IN_BLOCK or len([y for y in children[u] if y not in in_this_block]) > 0:
-      # if it's a fork or not placed, we don't place it
-      new_srcs.append(u)
-    elif (block_ctx:=block_ctxs[u]) == bb.ctx:
-      # if it's the same context, we place the UOp in this block and append the parents to it's srcs
-      new_srcs += list(u.src)
-      to_append.append(u)
+    if u.op is Ops.BLOCK:
+      # merge sibling blocks. NOTE: blocks must only have one output source
+      assert u.arg.ctx not in old_blocks, "sibiling should never have been created"
+      old_blocks[u.arg.ctx] = u
+    elif u.op not in DONT_PLACE_IN_BLOCK and set(children[u]).issubset(in_this_block):
+      # if it can go in blocks and all its children are in the block, we add it to the block
+      if (block_ctx:=block_ctxs[u]) == x.arg.ctx:
+        # if it's the same context, we place the UOp in this block and append the parents to its srcs
+        new_srcs += list(u.src)
+        to_append.append(u)
+      else:
+        # if it's a different context, we create a new block with this UOp
+        new_blocks.setdefault(block_ctx, []).append(u)
     else:
-      # otherwise, we create a new block with this UOp
-      new_blocks.setdefault(block_ctx, []).append(u)
+      # otherwise, we keep it in the srcs
+      new_srcs.append(u)
   if len(to_append) == 0 and len(new_blocks) == 0: return None
 
   for rng,lst in new_blocks.items():
-    new_block = UOp(Ops.BLOCK, dtypes.void, tuple(dedup(flatten(y.src for y in lst))), BasicBlock(rng, tuple(lst)))
+    srcs = flatten(y.src for y in lst)
+    if (old_block:=old_blocks.get(rng, None)) is not None:
+      # NOTE: order shouldn't matter here
+      srcs += list(old_block.src)
+      lst += list(old_block.arg.lst)
+      del old_blocks[rng]
+    new_block = UOp(Ops.BLOCK, dtypes.void, tuple(dedup(srcs)), BasicBlock(rng, tuple(lst)))
     lrng = list(rng)
     for r in rng[::-1]:
-      if r not in bb.ctx and r.op is not Ops.BLOCKSTART:
+      if r not in x.arg.ctx and r.op is not Ops.BLOCKSTART:
         lrng.remove(r)
         new_block = UOp(Ops.BLOCKEND, src=(new_block,),
                         arg=BasicBlock(tuple(lrng), (UOp(Ops.ENDIF if r.op is Ops.IF else Ops.ENDRANGE, src=(r,)),), r))
     new_srcs.append(new_block)
-  return UOp(Ops.BLOCK, dtypes.void, tuple(dedup(new_srcs)), BasicBlock(bb.ctx, tuple(to_append)+bb.lst))
+  return UOp(Ops.BLOCK, dtypes.void, tuple(dedup(list(old_blocks.values())+new_srcs)), BasicBlock(x.arg.ctx, tuple(to_append)+x.arg.lst))
 
 make_basic_blocks = PatternMatcher([
   (UPat(Ops.SINK, name="x"), lambda x: UOp(Ops.BLOCK, src=x.src, arg=BasicBlock((), (x,)))),
diff --git a/tinygrad/ops.py b/tinygrad/ops.py
index 8f00161d18..713563b021 100644
--- a/tinygrad/ops.py
+++ b/tinygrad/ops.py
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ class GroupOp:
   # meta ops
   Meta = {Ops.COPY, Ops.EMPTY, Ops.BUFFER_VIEW}
   Buffer = {Ops.LOAD, Ops.PRELOAD, Ops.STORE, Ops.VALID}
+  Block = {Ops.BLOCK, Ops.BLOCKEND, Ops.BLOCKFORK, Ops.BLOCKSTART}
 
   # BinaryOps that can be flipped
   Commutative = {Ops.ADD, Ops.MUL, Ops.MAX, Ops.CMPNE, Ops.XOR, Ops.AND, Ops.OR}