diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/inference/results/TextExpansionResults.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/inference/results/TextExpansionResults.java
index 40d7fd221d09f..b4ea1a99d0574 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/inference/results/TextExpansionResults.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/inference/results/TextExpansionResults.java
@@ -96,4 +96,8 @@ public Map<String, Object> asMap(String outputField) {
         map.put(outputField, weightedTokens.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(WeightedToken::token, WeightedToken::weight)));
         return map;
     }
+
+    public boolean hasWeightedTokens() {
+        return this.getWeightedTokens().isEmpty() == false;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilder.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilder.java
index 6d972bcf5863a..33ad73f4ccf92 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilder.java
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ protected QueryBuilder doRewrite(QueryRewriteContext queryRewriteContext) {
     }
 
     private QueryBuilder weightedTokensToQuery(String fieldName, TextExpansionResults textExpansionResults) {
-        if (tokenPruningConfig != null) {
+        if (tokenPruningConfig != null || textExpansionResults.hasWeightedTokens()) {
             WeightedTokensQueryBuilder weightedTokensQueryBuilder = new WeightedTokensQueryBuilder(
                 fieldName,
                 textExpansionResults.getWeightedTokens(),
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilderTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilderTests.java
index 00d50e0d0d7bb..c62d42c6fa783 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/queries/TextExpansionQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -283,14 +283,11 @@ protected String[] shuffleProtectedFields() {
         return new String[] { WeightedTokensQueryBuilder.TOKENS_FIELD.getPreferredName() };
     }
 
-    public void testThatTokensAreCorrectlyPruned() {
+    public void testQueryWasRewrittenToASupportedType() {
         SearchExecutionContext searchExecutionContext = createSearchExecutionContext();
         TextExpansionQueryBuilder queryBuilder = createTestQueryBuilder();
         QueryBuilder rewrittenQueryBuilder = rewriteAndFetch(queryBuilder, searchExecutionContext);
-        if (queryBuilder.getTokenPruningConfig() == null) {
-            assertTrue(rewrittenQueryBuilder instanceof BoolQueryBuilder);
-        } else {
-            assertTrue(rewrittenQueryBuilder instanceof WeightedTokensQueryBuilder);
-        }
+
+        assertTrue(rewrittenQueryBuilder instanceof BoolQueryBuilder || rewrittenQueryBuilder instanceof WeightedTokensQueryBuilder);
     }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/text_expansion_search.yml b/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/text_expansion_search.yml
index 21a5a4736675d..9a2271f87cfcd 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/text_expansion_search.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/text_expansion_search.yml
@@ -345,3 +345,15 @@ setup:
                 model_id: text_expansion_model
                 model_text: "octopus comforter smells"
                 pruning_config: { }
+---
+"Test text-expansion that displays error for invalid queried field type without prune config":
+  - do:
+      catch: /\[keyword\] is not an appropriate field type for this query/
+      search:
+        index: index-with-rank-features
+        body:
+          query:
+            text_expansion:
+              source_text:
+                model_id: text_expansion_model
+                model_text: "octopus comforter smells"