diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersion.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersion.java
index 10641cae54e6d..4e0c28ea396fd 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersion.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersion.java
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.search.spell.LevenshteinDistance;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.VersionId;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.core.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.internal.VersionExtension;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.ExtensionLoader;
 
@@ -234,12 +236,29 @@ public static TransportVersion fromId(int id) {
      * This will only return the latest known referable transport version for a given name and not its
      * patch versions. Patch versions are constructed as a linked list internally and may be found by
      * cycling through them in a loop using {@link TransportVersion#nextPatchVersion()}.
-     *
      */
     public static TransportVersion fromName(String name) {
         TransportVersion known = VersionsHolder.ALL_VERSIONS_BY_NAME.get(name);
         if (known == null) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("unknown transport version [" + name + "]");
+            LevenshteinDistance ld = new LevenshteinDistance();
+            List<Tuple<Float, String>> scoredNames = new ArrayList<>();
+            for (String key : VersionsHolder.ALL_VERSIONS_BY_NAME.keySet()) {
+                float distance = ld.getDistance(name, key);
+                if (distance > 0.7f) {
+                    scoredNames.add(new Tuple<>(distance, key));
+                }
+            }
+            StringBuilder message = new StringBuilder("Unknown transport version [");
+            message.append(name);
+            message.append("].");
+            if (scoredNames.isEmpty() == false) {
+                List<String> names = scoredNames.stream().map(Tuple::v2).toList();
+                message.append(" Did you mean ");
+                message.append(names);
+                message.append("?");
+            }
+            message.append(" If this is a new transport version, run './gradle generateTransportVersion'.");
+            throw new IllegalStateException(message.toString());
         }
         return known;
     }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersionTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersionTests.java
index e51ca0c553fb6..7bb5106403d2d 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersionTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersionTests.java
@@ -391,4 +391,25 @@ public void testComment() {
         );
         assertThat(new TransportVersion(null, 1000000, null).supports(test3), is(true));
     }
+
+    public void testMoreLikeThis() {
+        IllegalStateException ise = expectThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> TransportVersion.fromName("esql_ixed_index_like"));
+        assertThat(
+            ise.getMessage(),
+            is(
+                "Unknown transport version [esql_ixed_index_like]. "
+                    + "Did you mean [esql_fixed_index_like]? "
+                    + "If this is a new transport version, run './gradle generateTransportVersion'."
+            )
+        );
+
+        ise = expectThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> TransportVersion.fromName("brand_new_version_unrelated_to_others"));
+        assertThat(
+            ise.getMessage(),
+            is(
+                "Unknown transport version [brand_new_version_unrelated_to_others]. "
+                    + "If this is a new transport version, run './gradle generateTransportVersion'."
+            )
+        );
+    }
 }