diff --git a/arch/riscv/Makefile b/arch/riscv/Makefile
index 76e958a5414a..6d4a5f6c3f4f 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Makefile
+++ b/arch/riscv/Makefile
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ KBUILD_CFLAGS_MODULE += $(call cc-option,-mno-relax)
 # architectures.  It's faster to have GCC emit only aligned accesses.
 KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option,-mstrict-align)
 
+# arch specific predefines for sparse
+CHECKFLAGS += -D__riscv -D__riscv_xlen=$(BITS)
+
 head-y := arch/riscv/kernel/head.o
 
 core-y += arch/riscv/kernel/ arch/riscv/mm/