diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index b28f49776d6..5849228200b 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ Carlos Jenkins
 Ceridwen
 Charles Cloud
 Charles Machalow
+Charles-Meldhine Madi Mnemoi (cmnemoi)
 Charnjit SiNGH (CCSJ)
 Cheuk Ting Ho
 Chris Mahoney
diff --git a/changelog/13816.bugfix.rst b/changelog/13816.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..432fc519ed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/13816.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixed :func:`pytest.approx` which now returns a clearer error message when comparing mappings with different keys.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/python_api.py b/src/_pytest/python_api.py
index c64587bb219..1e389eb0663 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/python_api.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/python_api.py
@@ -242,6 +242,12 @@ def _repr_compare(self, other_side: Mapping[object, float]) -> list[str]:
                 f"Lengths: {len(self.expected)} and {len(other_side)}",
             ]
 
+        if set(self.expected.keys()) != set(other_side.keys()):
+            return [
+                "comparison failed.",
+                f"Mappings has different keys: expected {self.expected.keys()} but got {other_side.keys()}",
+            ]
+
         approx_side_as_map = {
             k: self._approx_scalar(v) for k, v in self.expected.items()
         }
diff --git a/testing/python/approx.py b/testing/python/approx.py
index dc10a954839..0c14f6db1f3 100644
--- a/testing/python/approx.py
+++ b/testing/python/approx.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import operator
 from operator import eq
 from operator import ne
+import re
 
 from _pytest.pytester import Pytester
 from _pytest.python_api import _recursive_sequence_map
@@ -1048,6 +1049,20 @@ def test_strange_sequence(self):
         assert b == pytest.approx(a, abs=2)
         assert b != pytest.approx(a, abs=0.5)
 
+    def test_approx_dicts_with_mismatch_on_keys(self) -> None:
+        """https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/issues/13816"""
+        expected = {"a": 1, "b": 3}
+        actual = {"a": 1, "c": 3}
+
+        with pytest.raises(
+            AssertionError,
+            match=re.escape(
+                "comparison failed.\n  Mappings has different keys: "
+                "expected dict_keys(['a', 'b']) but got dict_keys(['a', 'c'])"
+            ),
+        ):
+            assert actual == approx(expected)
+
 
 class MyVec3:  # incomplete
     """sequence like"""