Keystrokes in folder "open" in Dock sometimes "fall through" to application below

I'm running 14.1 on an M2 mini. I have /Applications in my dock, and I like to click on the folder icon to open it and type the name of the application I want. I find about half the time, the keystrokes "fall through" to the application below. This can be awkward, if, say for example, I want to open GIMP while Signal is open and threfore click on the /Application icon, type GIMP, press Enter. GIMP will open, but I'll *also* send the message *GIMP* to whoever I happened to be last messaging.