diff --git a/tag.c b/tag.c
index 56a49f4fe..e11a4cdc4 100644
--- a/tag.c
+++ b/tag.c
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ struct tag *lookup_tag(const unsigned char *sha1)
 	if (!obj->type)
 		obj->type = OBJ_TAG;
         if (obj->type != OBJ_TAG) {
-                error("Object %s is a %s, not a tree",
+                error("Object %s is a %s, not a tag",
                       sha1_to_hex(sha1), typename(obj->type));
                 return NULL;
         }