diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.3.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.3.0.rst
index 8deeb3cfae1d3..78caa3d0c15de 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.3.0.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.3.0.rst
@@ -492,6 +492,7 @@ Other
 - :class:`Styler` rendered HTML output minor alterations to support w3 good code standard (:issue:`39626`)
 - Bug in :class:`Styler` where rendered HTML was missing a column class identifier for certain header cells (:issue:`39716`)
 - Bug in :meth:`Styler.background_gradient` where text-color was not determined correctly (:issue:`39888`)
+- Bug in :class:`Styler` where multiple elements in CSS-selectors were not correctly added to ``table_styles`` (:issue:`39942`)
 - Bug in :meth:`DataFrame.equals`, :meth:`Series.equals`, :meth:`Index.equals` with object-dtype containing ``np.datetime64("NaT")`` or ``np.timedelta64("NaT")`` (:issue:`39650`)
 - Bug in :func:`pandas.util.show_versions` where console JSON output was not proper JSON (:issue:`39701`)
 
diff --git a/pandas/io/formats/style.py b/pandas/io/formats/style.py
index 854f41d6b4dc3..e50f5986098d3 100644
--- a/pandas/io/formats/style.py
+++ b/pandas/io/formats/style.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
     Sequence,
     Tuple,
     Union,
+    cast,
 )
 from uuid import uuid4
 
@@ -55,7 +56,10 @@
 CSSPair = Tuple[str, Union[str, int, float]]
 CSSList = List[CSSPair]
 CSSProperties = Union[str, CSSList]
-CSSStyles = List[Dict[str, CSSProperties]]
+CSSStyles = List[Dict[str, CSSProperties]]  # = List[CSSDict]
+# class CSSDict(TypedDict):  # available when TypedDict is valid in pandas
+#     selector: str
+#     props: CSSProperties
 
 try:
     from matplotlib import colors
@@ -566,7 +570,7 @@ def _translate(self):
             "body": body,
             "uuid": uuid,
             "precision": precision,
-            "table_styles": table_styles,
+            "table_styles": _format_table_styles(table_styles),
             "caption": caption,
             "table_attributes": table_attr,
         }
@@ -1904,25 +1908,14 @@ def _pseudo_css(self, uuid: str, name: str, row: int, col: int, text: str):
         -------
         pseudo_css : List
         """
+        selector_id = "#T_" + uuid + "row" + str(row) + "_col" + str(col)
         return [
             {
-                "selector": "#T_"
-                + uuid
-                + "row"
-                + str(row)
-                + "_col"
-                + str(col)
-                + f":hover .{name}",
+                "selector": selector_id + f":hover .{name}",
                 "props": [("visibility", "visible")],
             },
             {
-                "selector": "#T_"
-                + uuid
-                + "row"
-                + str(row)
-                + "_col"
-                + str(col)
-                + f" .{name}::after",
+                "selector": selector_id + f" .{name}::after",
                 "props": [("content", f'"{text}"')],
             },
         ]
@@ -2077,6 +2070,26 @@ def _maybe_convert_css_to_tuples(style: CSSProperties) -> CSSList:
     return style
 
 
+def _format_table_styles(styles: CSSStyles) -> CSSStyles:
+    """
+    looks for multiple CSS selectors and separates them:
+    [{'selector': 'td, th', 'props': 'a:v;'}]
+        ---> [{'selector': 'td', 'props': 'a:v;'},
+              {'selector': 'th', 'props': 'a:v;'}]
+    """
+    return [
+        item
+        for sublist in [
+            [  # this is a CSSDict when TypedDict is available to avoid cast.
+                {"selector": x, "props": style["props"]}
+                for x in cast(str, style["selector"]).split(",")
+            ]
+            for style in styles
+        ]
+        for item in sublist
+    ]
+
+
 def _non_reducing_slice(slice_):
     """
     Ensure that a slice doesn't reduce to a Series or Scalar.
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/formats/style/test_style.py b/pandas/tests/io/formats/style/test_style.py
index 01ed234f6e248..f0d1090899043 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/formats/style/test_style.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/formats/style/test_style.py
@@ -626,6 +626,19 @@ def test_table_styles(self):
         result = " ".join(styler.render().split())
         assert "th { foo: bar; }" in result
 
+    def test_table_styles_multiple(self):
+        ctx = self.df.style.set_table_styles(
+            [
+                {"selector": "th,td", "props": "color:red;"},
+                {"selector": "tr", "props": "color:green;"},
+            ]
+        )._translate()["table_styles"]
+        assert ctx == [
+            {"selector": "th", "props": [("color", "red")]},
+            {"selector": "td", "props": [("color", "red")]},
+            {"selector": "tr", "props": [("color", "green")]},
+        ]
+
     def test_maybe_convert_css_to_tuples(self):
         expected = [("a", "b"), ("c", "d e")]
         assert _maybe_convert_css_to_tuples("a:b;c:d e;") == expected