diff --git a/modules/analysis-common/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactory.java b/modules/analysis-common/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactory.java
index 829d9746399..b94f7f6499a 100644
--- a/modules/analysis-common/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactory.java
+++ b/modules/analysis-common/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactory.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.analysis.hu.HungarianLightStemFilter;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.id.IndonesianStemFilter;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.it.ItalianLightStemFilter;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.lv.LatvianStemFilter;
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.miscellaneous.EmptyTokenStream;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.no.NorwegianLightStemFilter;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.no.NorwegianLightStemmer;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.no.NorwegianMinimalStemFilter;
@@ -82,13 +83,19 @@ import org.tartarus.snowball.ext.SpanishStemmer;
 import org.tartarus.snowball.ext.SwedishStemmer;
 import org.tartarus.snowball.ext.TurkishStemmer;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 public class StemmerTokenFilterFactory extends AbstractTokenFilterFactory {
 
+    private static final TokenStream EMPTY_TOKEN_STREAM = new EmptyTokenStream();
+
     private String language;
 
-    StemmerTokenFilterFactory(IndexSettings indexSettings, Environment environment, String name, Settings settings) {
+    StemmerTokenFilterFactory(IndexSettings indexSettings, Environment environment, String name, Settings settings) throws IOException {
         super(indexSettings, name, settings);
         this.language = Strings.capitalize(settings.get("language", settings.get("name", "porter")));
+        // check that we have a valid language by trying to create a TokenStream
+        create(EMPTY_TOKEN_STREAM).close();
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/modules/analysis-common/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactoryTests.java b/modules/analysis-common/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactoryTests.java
index 10f7653c52c..8e3e862f462 100644
--- a/modules/analysis-common/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactoryTests.java
+++ b/modules/analysis-common/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/analysis/common/StemmerTokenFilterFactoryTests.java
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ public class StemmerTokenFilterFactoryTests extends ESTokenStreamTestCase {
             assertThat(create, instanceOf(PorterStemFilter.class));
             assertAnalyzesTo(analyzer, "consolingly", new String[]{"consolingli"});
         }
-
     }
 
     public void testPorter2FilterFactory() throws IOException {
@@ -97,7 +96,16 @@ public class StemmerTokenFilterFactoryTests extends ESTokenStreamTestCase {
             assertThat(create, instanceOf(SnowballFilter.class));
             assertAnalyzesTo(analyzer, "possibly", new String[]{"possibl"});
         }
-
     }
 
+    public void testMultipleLanguagesThrowsException() throws IOException {
+        Version v = VersionUtils.randomVersion(random());
+        Settings settings = Settings.builder().put("index.analysis.filter.my_english.type", "stemmer")
+                .putList("index.analysis.filter.my_english.language", "english", "light_english").put(SETTING_VERSION_CREATED, v)
+                .put(Environment.PATH_HOME_SETTING.getKey(), createTempDir().toString()).build();
+
+        IllegalArgumentException e = expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+                () -> AnalysisTestsHelper.createTestAnalysisFromSettings(settings, PLUGIN));
+        assertEquals("Invalid stemmer class specified: [english, light_english]", e.getMessage());
+    }
 }