diff --git a/lisp/gnus/gnus-sum.el b/lisp/gnus/gnus-sum.el
index 908c10c11d..788676c7c8 100644
--- a/lisp/gnus/gnus-sum.el
+++ b/lisp/gnus/gnus-sum.el
@@ -5085,15 +5085,10 @@ gnus-thread-sort-by-author
 
 (defsubst gnus-article-sort-by-recipient (h1 h2)
   "Sort articles by recipient."
-  (gnus-string<
-   (let ((extract (funcall
-		   gnus-extract-address-components
-		   (or (cdr (assq 'To (mail-header-extra h1))) ""))))
-     (or (car extract) (cadr extract)))
-   (let ((extract (funcall
-		   gnus-extract-address-components
-		   (or (cdr (assq 'To (mail-header-extra h2))) ""))))
-     (or (car extract) (cadr extract)))))
+  (let ((ex
+	 (lambda (h)
+	   (gnus-article-sort-extract-extra 'To h))))
+    (gnus-string< (funcall ex h1) (funcall ex h2))))
 
 (defun gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient (h1 h2)
   "Sort threads by root recipient."
@@ -5188,15 +5183,11 @@ gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
   "Sort threads such that the thread with the most recently dated article comes first."
   (> (gnus-thread-latest-date h1) (gnus-thread-latest-date h2)))
 
-(defun gnus-article-sort-by-newsgroups (h1 h2)
+(defsubst gnus-article-sort-by-newsgroups (h1 h2)
   "Sort articles by newsgroups."
   (let ((ex
-         (lambda (h)
-           (let ((extract
-                  (funcall gnus-extract-address-components
-		           (or (cdr (assq 'Newsgroups (mail-header-extra h)))
-                               ""))))
-             (or (car extract) (cadr extract))))))
+	 (lambda (h)
+	   (gnus-article-sort-extract-extra 'Newsgroups h))))
     (gnus-string< (funcall ex h1) (funcall ex h2))))
 
 (defun gnus-thread-sort-by-newsgroups (h1 h2)
@@ -5204,6 +5195,12 @@ gnus-thread-sort-by-newsgroups
   (gnus-article-sort-by-newsgroups
    (gnus-thread-header h1) (gnus-thread-header h2)))
 
+(defsubst gnus-article-sort-extract-extra (Name header)
+    (let ((extract
+	   (funcall gnus-extract-address-components
+		    (or (cdr (assq name (mail-header-extra header)))
+			""))))
+      (or (car extract) (cadr extract))))
 
 ; Since this is called not only to sort the top-level threads, but
 ; also in recursive sorts to order the articles within a thread, each