diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index eeee80702..34966d0e6 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Type: Package
 Package: datawizard
 Title: Easy Data Wrangling and Statistical Transformations
-Version: 0.9.1.5
+Version: 0.9.1.6
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Indrajeet", "Patil", , "patilindrajeet.science@gmail.com", role = "aut",
            comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0003-1995-6531", Twitter = "@patilindrajeets")),
diff --git a/R/data_tabulate.R b/R/data_tabulate.R
index 04f205ec8..76c9733b1 100644
--- a/R/data_tabulate.R
+++ b/R/data_tabulate.R
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ data_tabulate.default <- function(x,
   }
 
   # validate "weights"
-  weights <- .validate_table_weights(weights, x)
+  weights <- .validate_table_weights(weights, x, weights_expression = insight::safe_deparse(substitute(weights)))
 
   # we go into another function for crosstables here...
   if (!is.null(by)) {
diff --git a/R/data_xtabulate.R b/R/data_xtabulate.R
index c8e622e2d..aae2e5e57 100644
--- a/R/data_xtabulate.R
+++ b/R/data_xtabulate.R
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ print_html.dw_data_xtabulates <- function(x, big_mark = NULL, ...) {
 }
 
 
-.validate_table_weights <- function(weights, x) {
+.validate_table_weights <- function(weights, x, weights_expression = NULL) {
   if (!is.null(weights)) {
     if (is.character(weights)) {
       # If "weights" is a character string, must be of length 1
@@ -343,5 +343,12 @@ print_html.dw_data_xtabulates <- function(x, big_mark = NULL, ...) {
     }
   }
 
+  # exception: for vectors, if weighting variable not found, "weights" is NULL
+  # to check this, we check whether a weights expression was provided and weights
+  # is NULL, e.g. "weights = iris$not_found"
+  if (!is.null(weights_expression) && !identical(weights_expression, "NULL") && is.null(weights)) {
+    insight::format_error("The variable specified in `weights` was not found in `x`. Possibly misspelled?")
+  }
+
   weights
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-data_tabulate.R b/tests/testthat/test-data_tabulate.R
index 1ca47a967..7b78e06b9 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-data_tabulate.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-data_tabulate.R
@@ -363,6 +363,7 @@ test_that("data_tabulate, cross tables, errors weights", {
   expect_error(data_tabulate(efc, "c172code", weights = efc$weights[-1]), regex = "Length of `weights`")
   expect_error(data_tabulate(efc, "c172code", weights = "weigths"), regex = "not found")
   expect_error(data_tabulate(efc, "c172code", weights = c("e16sex", "e42dep")), regex = "length 1")
+  expect_error(data_tabulate(efc$c172code, weights = efc$wweight), regex = "not found")
 })