diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index d880dba2..a1cae5b0 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Imports:
     stringr,
     tibble,
     tidygraph,
+    tidyselect,
     WikidataQueryServiceR,
     WikidataR,
     xml2,
diff --git a/R/spq_label.R b/R/spq_label.R
index f9d8bc62..11429833 100644
--- a/R/spq_label.R
+++ b/R/spq_label.R
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 #' If you write "en" you
 #' can get labels for regional variants such as "en-GB". If you want results for
 #' "en" only, write "en$".
+#' @param .overwrite whether to replace variables with their labels.
+#' `spq_select(blop)` means you get both `blop` and `blop_label`.
+#' `spq_select(blop, .overwrite = TRUE)` means you get the label as `blop`,
+#' the "original" blop variable isn't returned.
 #'
 #' @return A query object
 #' @export
@@ -26,7 +30,11 @@
 #'   spq_label(mayor, place, .languages = c("fr", "en", "de")) %>%
 #'   spq_perform()
 #' ```
-spq_label <- function(.query, ..., .required = FALSE,.languages = getOption("glitter.lang", "en$")) {
+spq_label <- function(.query,
+                      ...,
+                      .required = FALSE,
+                      .languages = getOption("glitter.lang", "en$"),
+                      .overwrite = FALSE) {
   vars = purrr::map_chr(rlang::enquos(...), spq_treat_argument)
 
   if (!is.null(.languages)) .languages = tolower(.languages)
@@ -63,18 +71,18 @@ spq_label <- function(.query, ..., .required = FALSE,.languages = getOption("gli
 
 
       mutate_left <- sprintf("%s_label", sub("\\?", "", x))
-      mutate_right <- sprintf("coalesce(%s_labell, '')", sub("\\?", "", x))
+      mutate_right <- sprintf("coalesce(%s_labell, '')", un_question_mark(x))
       args_list <- list(.query = q, m = mutate_right)
       names(args_list)[2] <- mutate_left
       q = do.call(spq_mutate, args_list)
-      q = spq_select(q, sprintf("-%s_labell", sub("\\?", "", x)))
+      q = spq_select(q, sprintf("-%s_labell", un_question_mark(x)))
 
       # we add the language of the label
       # because of regional variants
       if (!is.null(.languages)) {
         if (length(.languages) > 1 || !grepl("\\$$", .languages)) {
-          mutate_left <- sprintf("%s_label_lang", sub("\\?", "", x))
-          mutate_right <- sprintf("lang(%s_labell)", sub("\\?", "", x))
+          mutate_left <- sprintf("%s_label_lang", un_question_mark(x))
+          mutate_right <- sprintf("lang(%s_labell)", un_question_mark(x))
           args_list <- list(.query = q, m = mutate_right)
           names(args_list)[2] <- mutate_left
           q = do.call(spq_mutate, args_list)
@@ -84,7 +92,15 @@ spq_label <- function(.query, ..., .required = FALSE,.languages = getOption("gli
     },
     .init = .query
   )
-# TODO add .overwrite
+
+  if (.overwrite) {
+    .query <- purrr::reduce(
+      vars,
+      \(.query, x) overwrite_with_label(.query, x),
+      .init = .query
+    )
+  }
+
   .query
 
 }
@@ -97,3 +113,20 @@ create_lang_filter = function(language, x) {
     sprintf("langMatches(lang(%s_labell), '%s')", x, language)
   }
 }
+
+overwrite_with_label <- function(.query, x) {
+  remove_x <- sprintf("-%s", un_question_mark(x))
+  .query <- spq_select(.query, remove_x)
+  .query <- spq_rename_var(
+    .query,
+    old = un_question_mark(x),
+    new = sprintf("%s0", un_question_mark(x))
+  )
+  .query <- spq_rename_var(
+    .query,
+    old = sprintf("%s_label", un_question_mark(x)),
+    new = un_question_mark(x)
+  )
+
+  .query
+}
diff --git a/R/spq_rename_var.R b/R/spq_rename_var.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b67d95cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/spq_rename_var.R
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+spq_rename_var <- function(.query, old, new) {
+
+  if (!(question_mark(old) %in% .query[["vars"]][["name"]])) {
+    cli::cli_abort("Can't rename {.field {old}} as it's not present in the query object.")
+  }
+
+  if (question_mark(new) %in% .query[["vars"]][["name"]]) {
+    cli::cli_abort("Can't rename {.field {old}} to {.field {new}} as {.field {new}} already exists.")
+  }
+
+  .query[["vars"]] <- spq_rename_var_in_df(.query[["vars"]], old, new)
+
+  .query[["structure"]] <- spq_rename_var_in_df(.query[["structure"]], old, new)
+
+  .query[["triples"]] <- spq_rename_var_in_df(.query[["triples"]], old, new)
+
+  if (!is.null(.query[["filters"]])) {
+    .query[["filters"]] <- spq_rename_var_in_df(.query[["filters"]], old, new)
+  }
+
+  .query
+}
+
+spq_rename_var_in_df <- function(df, old, new) {
+  columns_to_transform <- names(df)[unlist(lapply(df, class)) == "character"]
+   dplyr::mutate(
+    df,
+    dplyr::across(
+    tidyselect::all_of(columns_to_transform),
+    \(x) sub(question_mark_escape(old), question_mark(new), x)
+  ))
+}
diff --git a/R/utils-str.R b/R/utils-str.R
index 904d2eba..e62f2362 100644
--- a/R/utils-str.R
+++ b/R/utils-str.R
@@ -186,3 +186,15 @@ get_varformula = function(selected) {
     args = args
   )
 }
+
+question_mark <- function(x) {
+  sprintf("?%s", x)
+}
+
+question_mark_escape <- function(x) {
+  sprintf("\\?%s(:blank:]|[:punct:]|\\b)", x)
+}
+
+un_question_mark <- function(x) {
+  sub("\\?", "", x)
+}
diff --git a/man/spq_label.Rd b/man/spq_label.Rd
index c5b3d074..7ab98a40 100644
--- a/man/spq_label.Rd
+++ b/man/spq_label.Rd
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ spq_label(
   .query,
   ...,
   .required = FALSE,
-  .languages = getOption("glitter.lang", "en$")
+  .languages = getOption("glitter.lang", "en$"),
+  .overwrite = FALSE
 )
 }
 \arguments{
@@ -25,6 +26,11 @@ restrictions on language (defined or not), \code{"*"} for any defined language.
 If you write "en" you
 can get labels for regional variants such as "en-GB". If you want results for
 "en" only, write "en$".}
+
+\item{.overwrite}{whether to replace variables with their labels.
+\code{spq_select(blop)} means you get both \code{blop} and \code{blop_label}.
+\code{spq_select(blop, .overwrite = TRUE)} means you get the label as \code{blop},
+the "original" blop variable isn't returned.}
 }
 \value{
 A query object
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/spq_label.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/spq_label.md
index c6c30ebf..44d5625a 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/spq_label.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/spq_label.md
@@ -60,3 +60,34 @@
       }
       
 
+# spq_label() .overwrite
+
+    Code
+      spq_init() %>% spq_add("?mayor wdt:P31 ?species") %>% spq_set(species = c(
+        "wd:Q144", "wd:Q146", "wd:Q780")) %>% spq_add("?mayor p:P39 ?node") %>%
+        spq_add("?node ps:P39 wd:Q30185") %>% spq_add("?node pq:P642 ?place") %>%
+        spq_label(mayor, place, .languages = "en$", .overwrite = TRUE)
+    Output
+      PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
+      SELECT ?node ?species (COALESCE(?mayor_labell,'') AS ?mayor) (COALESCE(?place_labell,'') AS ?place)
+      WHERE {
+      
+      ?mayor0 wdt:P31 ?species.
+      ?mayor0 p:P39 ?node.
+      ?node ps:P39 wd:Q30185.
+      ?node pq:P642 ?place0.
+      OPTIONAL {
+      	?mayor0 rdfs:label ?mayor_labell.
+      	FILTER(lang(?mayor_labell) IN ('en'))
+      }
+      
+      OPTIONAL {
+      	?place0 rdfs:label ?place_labell.
+      	FILTER(lang(?place_labell) IN ('en'))
+      }
+      
+      VALUES ?species {wd:Q144 wd:Q146 wd:Q780}
+      
+      }
+      
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-spq_label.R b/tests/testthat/test-spq_label.R
index 48a2c04e..8a2758a7 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-spq_label.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-spq_label.R
@@ -34,3 +34,16 @@ test_that("spq_label() works", {
       "place_label", "place_label_lang")
   )
 })
+
+test_that("spq_label() .overwrite", {
+
+  expect_snapshot(
+    spq_init() %>%
+      spq_add("?mayor wdt:P31 ?species") %>%
+      spq_set(species = c('wd:Q144','wd:Q146', 'wd:Q780')) %>%
+      spq_add("?mayor p:P39 ?node") %>%
+      spq_add("?node ps:P39 wd:Q30185") %>%
+      spq_add("?node pq:P642 ?place") %>%
+      spq_label(mayor, place, .languages = "en$", .overwrite = TRUE)
+  )
+})