diff --git a/lib/jbuilder.rb b/lib/jbuilder.rb
index 1290839..6602bfe 100644
--- a/lib/jbuilder.rb
+++ b/lib/jbuilder.rb
@@ -272,9 +272,10 @@ def target!
     @attributes.to_json
   end
 
-  private
-
   alias_method :method_missing, :set!
+  private :method_missing
+
+  private
 
   def _extract(object, attributes)
     if ::Hash === object
diff --git a/lib/jbuilder/jbuilder_template.rb b/lib/jbuilder/jbuilder_template.rb
index c2c54f2..00ae5b8 100644
--- a/lib/jbuilder/jbuilder_template.rb
+++ b/lib/jbuilder/jbuilder_template.rb
@@ -141,9 +141,10 @@ def set!(name, object = BLANK, *args)
     end
   end
 
-  private
-
   alias_method :method_missing, :set!
+  private :method_missing
+
+  private
 
   def _render_partial_with_options(options)
     options[:locals] ||= options.except(:partial, :as, :collection, :cached)
diff --git a/test/jbuilder_template_test.rb b/test/jbuilder_template_test.rb
index 76368e1..52e00c1 100644
--- a/test/jbuilder_template_test.rb
+++ b/test/jbuilder_template_test.rb
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ class JbuilderTemplateTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal "hello", result["content"]
   end
 
+  test "method_missing can be used as a key" do
+    result = render('json.method_missing "hello"')
+    assert_equal({ "method_missing" => "hello" }, result)
+  end
+
   test "partial by name with top-level locals" do
     result = render('json.partial! "partial", content: "hello"')
     assert_equal "hello", result["content"]
diff --git a/test/jbuilder_test.rb b/test/jbuilder_test.rb
index c01fb1e..3dd563f 100644
--- a/test/jbuilder_test.rb
+++ b/test/jbuilder_test.rb
@@ -61,6 +61,14 @@ class JbuilderTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal 'hello', result['content']
   end
 
+  test 'method_missing key' do
+    result = jbuild do |json|
+      json.method_missing 'hello'
+    end
+
+    assert_equal 'hello', result['method_missing']
+  end
+
   test 'single key with false value' do
     result = jbuild do |json|
       json.content false