diff --git a/src/ir.cpp b/src/ir.cpp
index 3851103c1e8946aa034bb33a43d0aaa196dab35c..0833bb580cf806aea7663b99b24a0fd4748c998b 100644
--- a/src/ir.cpp
+++ b/src/ir.cpp
@@ -12210,7 +12210,8 @@ static IrInstruction *ir_analyze_bin_op_cmp(IrAnalyze *ira, IrInstructionBinOp *
             return is_non_null;
         }
     } else if (op1->value.type->id == ZigTypeIdNull || op2->value.type->id == ZigTypeIdNull) {
-        ir_add_error_node(ira, source_node, buf_sprintf("comparison against null can only be done with optionals"));
+        ir_add_error_node(ira, source_node, buf_sprintf("only optionals (not '%s') can compare to null",
+            buf_ptr(&(op1->value.type->id == ZigTypeIdNull ? op2->value.type->name : op1->value.type->name))));
         return ira->codegen->invalid_instruction;
     }
 
diff --git a/test/compile_errors.zig b/test/compile_errors.zig
index edfb73fc42dc26bf11709308b860e89d31ced5eb..2f6ad8fe140d8e9a1e34e7a5eecec5f644a8561b 100644
--- a/test/compile_errors.zig
+++ b/test/compile_errors.zig
@@ -839,7 +839,7 @@ pub fn addCases(cases: *tests.CompileErrorContext) void {
         \\    _ = &x == null;
         \\}
     ,
-        "tmp.zig:3:12: error: comparison against null can only be done with optionals",
+        "tmp.zig:3:12: error: only optionals (not '*i32') can compare to null",
     );
 
     cases.add(