diff --git a/salt/modules/hosts.py b/salt/modules/hosts.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/salt/modules/hosts.py
+++ b/salt/modules/hosts.py
@@ -215,10 +215,10 @@ def add_host(ip, alias):
 def _write_hosts(hosts):
     lines = []
     for ip, aliases in hosts.iteritems():
+        line = '{0}\t'.format(ip)
         for alias in aliases:
-            lines.append(
-                '{0}\t\t{1}'.format(ip, alias)
-            )
+            line = '{0}\t{1}'.format(line, alias)
+        lines.append(line)
 
     hfn = __get_hosts_filename()
     with salt.utils.fopen(hfn, 'w+') as ofile:
when an ip has more than 1 aliases they will be written at the same line in the hosts file