diff --git a/lisp/use-package/use-package.el b/lisp/use-package/use-package.el
index 96137c3c78d..f99a3767777 100644
--- a/lisp/use-package/use-package.el
+++ b/lisp/use-package/use-package.el
@@ -712,6 +712,10 @@ If RECURSED is non-nil, recurse into sublists."
 (defun use-package-normalize-binder (name keyword args)
   (use-package-as-one (symbol-name keyword) args
     (lambda (label arg)
+      (unless (consp arg)
+        (use-package-error
+         (concat label " a (<string or vector> . <symbol or string>)"
+                 " or list of these")))
       (use-package-normalize-pairs (lambda (k) (or (stringp k) (vectorp k)))
                                    (lambda (b) (or (symbolp b) (stringp b)))
                                    name label arg))))
diff --git a/test/lisp/use-package/use-package-tests.el b/test/lisp/use-package/use-package-tests.el
index d3deef995b1..00682e9e0fc 100644
--- a/test/lisp/use-package/use-package-tests.el
+++ b/test/lisp/use-package/use-package-tests.el
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
     (should (equal (use-package-normalize-binder
                     'foopkg :bind good-values)
                    good-values)))
+  (should-error (use-package-normalize-binder
+                 'foopkg :bind '("foo")))
   (should-error (use-package-normalize-binder
                  'foopkg :bind '("foo" . 99)))
   (should-error (use-package-normalize-binder