diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index 8f0e050356..23f3905529 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -8,8 +8,11 @@ ifeq (,$(filter $(MATCH_MAKE_VERSION),$(MAKE_VERSION)))
       $(MATCH_MAKE_VERSION) or later.)
 endif
 
+# will evaluate to the absolute path of the Makefile it's evaluated in
+MAKEFILEDIR = $(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
+
 # 'Makefile.include' directory, must be evaluated before other 'include'
-_riotbase := $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
+_riotbase := $(MAKEFILEDIR)
 
 # include RIOT_MAKEFILES_GLOBAL_PRE configuration files
 # allows setting user specific system wide configuration parsed before the body
diff --git a/cpu/kinetis/Makefile.include b/cpu/kinetis/Makefile.include
index 5947087209..9a54d21cf9 100644
--- a/cpu/kinetis/Makefile.include
+++ b/cpu/kinetis/Makefile.include
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ifeq (,$(KINETIS_SERIES))
   # Parse parameters from CPU_MODEL using the kinetis-info.mk script in the same
   # directory as this Makefile.
-  include $(dir $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))/kinetis-info.mk
+  include $(MAKEFILEDIR)/kinetis-info.mk
 endif
 
 # "The Vector table must be naturally aligned to a power of two whose alignment
diff --git a/tests/cpp_exclude/module_exclude/Makefile.include b/tests/cpp_exclude/module_exclude/Makefile.include
index 1a6f083cb8..92c3a25a67 100644
--- a/tests/cpp_exclude/module_exclude/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/cpp_exclude/module_exclude/Makefile.include
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-# Use an immediate variable to evaluate `MAKEFILE_LIST` now
-USEMODULE_INCLUDES_module_exclude := $(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
+# Use an immediate variable to evaluate `MAKEFILEDIR` now
+USEMODULE_INCLUDES_module_exclude := $(MAKEFILEDIR)
 USEMODULE_INCLUDES += $(USEMODULE_INCLUDES_module_exclude)
diff --git a/tests/cpp_ext/module/Makefile.include b/tests/cpp_ext/module/Makefile.include
index f8c48846e3..c3cc48bdef 100644
--- a/tests/cpp_ext/module/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/cpp_ext/module/Makefile.include
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Use an immediate variable to evaluate `MAKEFILE_LIST` now
-USEMODULE_INCLUDES_module := $(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
+USEMODULE_INCLUDES_module := $(MAKEFILEDIR)
 USEMODULE_INCLUDES += $(USEMODULE_INCLUDES_module)
diff --git a/tests/external_module_dirs/external_module/Makefile.include b/tests/external_module_dirs/external_module/Makefile.include
index ced920dbfb..14d9974e66 100644
--- a/tests/external_module_dirs/external_module/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/external_module_dirs/external_module/Makefile.include
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Use an immediate variable to evaluate `MAKEFILE_LIST` now
-USEMODULE_INCLUDES_external_module := $(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))/include
+USEMODULE_INCLUDES_external_module := $(MAKEFILEDIR)/include
 USEMODULE_INCLUDES += $(USEMODULE_INCLUDES_external_module)
diff --git a/tests/pkg_utensor/models/Makefile.include b/tests/pkg_utensor/models/Makefile.include
index 793f6a06fd..563cf809c1 100644
--- a/tests/pkg_utensor/models/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/pkg_utensor/models/Makefile.include
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Use an immediate variable to evaluate `MAKEFILE_LIST` now
-USEMODULE_INCLUDES_models := $(abspath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
+USEMODULE_INCLUDES_models := $(MAKEFILEDIR)
 USEMODULE_INCLUDES += $(USEMODULE_INCLUDES_models)
 
 CXXEXFLAGS += -Wno-unused-parameter