There is a IgnoreTabsAndBlanksForLineCalculation compatibility setting, making space character height not affect line height. It is enabled for Word file formats, and its effect can be observed in attachment 184814 [details]. This setting has no entry in Options->Writer->Compatibility. Like with bug 76005 and bug 126513, it needs to be present there.
Currently, default is False in settings: https://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/smoketest/data/settings.xml?r=2b383d19#72 It is set to True for DOCX filter: https://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/writerfilter/source/filter/WriterFilter.cxx?r=de2b1a3a#317 No control in Compatibility section of Options dialog: https://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/officecfg/registry/schema/org/openoffice/Office/Compatibility.xcs?r=27f98935 Tested in: Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 579d144290c1617fdb38d09b30900a6bbe390b8d CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded