diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilder.java
index 0424cf6f14b..0f9006ed7da 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilder.java
@@ -341,11 +341,9 @@ public class GeoShapeQueryBuilder extends AbstractQueryBuilder<GeoShapeQueryBuil
             } else {
                 throw new QueryShardException(context, "failed to find geo_shape field [" + fieldName + "]");
             }
-        }
-
-        // TODO: This isn't the nicest way to check this
-        if (!(fieldType instanceof GeoShapeFieldMapper.GeoShapeFieldType)) {
-            throw new QueryShardException(context, "Field [" + fieldName + "] is not a geo_shape");
+        } else if (fieldType.typeName().equals(GeoShapeFieldMapper.CONTENT_TYPE) == false) {
+            throw new QueryShardException(context,
+                    "Field [" + fieldName + "] is not of type [geo_shape] but of type [" + fieldType.typeName() + "]");
         }
 
         final GeoShapeFieldMapper.GeoShapeFieldType shapeFieldType = (GeoShapeFieldMapper.GeoShapeFieldType) fieldType;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilderTests.java
index 077f0f48d00..8c08725aebb 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/GeoShapeQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.index.query;
 
 import com.vividsolutions.jts.geom.Coordinate;
+
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.ConstantScoreQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchNoDocsQuery;
@@ -258,6 +259,14 @@ public class GeoShapeQueryBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<GeoShapeQue
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("failed to find geo_shape field [unmapped]"));
     }
 
+    public void testWrongFieldType() throws IOException {
+        ShapeType shapeType = ShapeType.randomType(random());
+        ShapeBuilder shape = RandomShapeGenerator.createShapeWithin(random(), null, shapeType);
+        final GeoShapeQueryBuilder queryBuilder = new GeoShapeQueryBuilder(STRING_FIELD_NAME, shape);
+        QueryShardException e = expectThrows(QueryShardException.class, () -> queryBuilder.toQuery(createShardContext()));
+        assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Field [mapped_string] is not of type [geo_shape] but of type [text]"));
+    }
+
     public void testSerializationFailsUnlessFetched() throws IOException {
         QueryBuilder builder = doCreateTestQueryBuilder(true);
         QueryBuilder queryBuilder = Rewriteable.rewrite(builder, createShardContext());