diff --git a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
index 38ac37d9c6..a0c8a1499a 100644
--- a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
@@ -710,6 +710,17 @@ static void sanitize_paths(int argc, const char **argv,
 	if (prefix && *prefix && !core_sparse_checkout_cone)
 		die(_("please run from the toplevel directory in non-cone mode"));
 
+	if (core_sparse_checkout_cone) {
+		for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+			if (argv[i][0] == '/')
+				die(_("specify directories rather than patterns (no leading slash)"));
+			if (argv[i][0] == '!')
+				die(_("specify directories rather than patterns.  If your directory starts with a '!', pass --skip-checks"));
+			if (strpbrk(argv[i], "*?[]"))
+				die(_("specify directories rather than patterns.  If your directory really has any of '*?[]\\' in it, pass --skip-checks"));
+		}
+	}
+
 	for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
 		struct cache_entry *ce;
 		struct index_state *index = the_repository->index;
diff --git a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
index 3b39329266..421127d99c 100755
--- a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
+++ b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@ test_expect_success BSLASHPSPEC 'pattern-checks: escaped characters' '
 	git -C escaped reset --hard $COMMIT &&
 	check_files escaped "a deep folder1 folder2 zbad\\dir zdoes*exist" zglob[!a]? &&
 	git -C escaped sparse-checkout init --cone &&
-	git -C escaped sparse-checkout set zbad\\dir/bogus "zdoes*not*exist" "zdoes*exist" "zglob[!a]?" &&
+	git -C escaped sparse-checkout set --skip-checks zbad\\dir/bogus "zdoes*not*exist" "zdoes*exist" "zglob[!a]?" &&
 	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
 	/*
 	!/*/