diff --git a/lib/topic_creator.rb b/lib/topic_creator.rb
index c3f5e3b3346..92c8703e218 100644
--- a/lib/topic_creator.rb
+++ b/lib/topic_creator.rb
@@ -192,11 +192,14 @@ class TopicCreator
 
   def setup_tags(topic)
     if @opts[:tags].present?
-      if @opts[:skip_validations]
-        DiscourseTagging.add_or_create_tags_by_name(topic, @opts[:tags])
-      else
-        valid_tags = DiscourseTagging.tag_topic_by_names(topic, @guardian, @opts[:tags])
-        unless valid_tags
+      # We can try the full tagging workflow which does validations and other
+      # things like replacing synonyms first, but if this fails then we can try
+      # the simple workflow if validations are skipped.
+      valid_tags = DiscourseTagging.tag_topic_by_names(topic, @guardian, @opts[:tags])
+      if !valid_tags
+        if @opts[:skip_validations]
+          DiscourseTagging.add_or_create_tags_by_name(topic, @opts[:tags])
+        else
           topic.errors.add(:base, :unable_to_tag)
           rollback_from_errors!(topic)
         end
diff --git a/spec/models/reviewable_queued_post_spec.rb b/spec/models/reviewable_queued_post_spec.rb
index bd929c0baa2..094d6774012 100644
--- a/spec/models/reviewable_queued_post_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/reviewable_queued_post_spec.rb
@@ -320,6 +320,16 @@ RSpec.describe ReviewableQueuedPost, type: :model do
       expect(Topic.count).to eq(topic_count)
       expect(Post.count).to eq(post_count)
     end
+
+    it "remaps tags with synonyms when approved" do
+      syn_tag = Fabricate(:tag, name: "syntag", target_tag: Fabricate(:tag, name: "maintag"))
+      reviewable.payload["tags"] += ["syntag"]
+
+      result = reviewable.perform(moderator, :approve_post)
+
+      expect(result.success?).to eq(true)
+      expect(result.created_post_topic.tags.pluck(:name)).to match_array(%w[cool neat maintag])
+    end
   end
 
   describe "Callbacks" do