diff --git a/src/srun/libsrun/srun_job.c b/src/srun/libsrun/srun_job.c
index 9188207db53a462c0f0105cbf42d67b9cca0e2a3..39f1ec61d662250d9a5fc7a76d485488ae6508a7 100644
--- a/src/srun/libsrun/srun_job.c
+++ b/src/srun/libsrun/srun_job.c
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ job_step_create_allocation(resource_allocation_response_msg_t *resp)
 
 	if ((opt.distribution == SLURM_DIST_ARBITRARY) &&
 	    (count != opt.ntasks)) {
-		error("You asked for %d tasks but specified %d nodes",
+		error("You asked for %d tasks but hostlist specified %d nodes",
 		      opt.ntasks, count);
 		goto error;
 	}