diff --git a/R/rescale_weights.R b/R/rescale_weights.R
index 340cdf2b4..dd8e0724a 100644
--- a/R/rescale_weights.R
+++ b/R/rescale_weights.R
@@ -171,8 +171,14 @@ rescale_weights <- function(data,
     insight::format_error("Argument `by` must be specified. Please provide one or more variable names in `by` that indicate the grouping structure (strata) of the survey data (level-2-cluster variable).") # nolint
   }
 
-  if (!by %in% colnames(data_tmp)) {
-    insight::format_error("The variable specified in `by` was not found in the data. Maybe misspelled?") # nolint
+  if (!all(by %in% colnames(data_tmp))) {
+    dont_exist <- by[which(!by %in% colnames(data_tmp))]
+    insight::format_error(paste0(
+        "The following variable(s) specified in `by` don't exist in the dataset: ",
+        text_concatenate(dont_exist), "."
+      ),
+      .misspelled_string(colnames(data_tmp), dont_exist, "Possibly misspelled?")
+    )
   }
 
   if (nest && length(by) < 2) {
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-rescale_weights.R b/tests/testthat/test-rescale_weights.R
index 504157180..bf94387e5 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-rescale_weights.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-rescale_weights.R
@@ -40,3 +40,33 @@ test_that("rescale_weights nested works as expected", {
     )
   )
 })
+
+
+test_that("rescale_weights errors and warnings", {
+  data(nhanes_sample)
+  expect_error(
+    rescale_weights(
+      data = head(nhanes_sample, n = 30),
+      by = c("a", "SDMVSTRA", "c"),
+      probability_weights = "WTINT2YR"
+    ),
+    regex = "The following"
+  )
+  expect_error(
+    rescale_weights(
+      data = head(nhanes_sample, n = 30),
+      by = NULL,
+      probability_weights = "WTINT2YR"
+    ),
+    regex = "must be specified"
+  )
+  nhanes_sample$pweights_a <- 1
+  expect_warning(
+    rescale_weights(
+      data = head(nhanes_sample, n = 30),
+      by = "SDMVSTRA",
+      probability_weights = "WTINT2YR"
+    ),
+    regex = "The variable name"
+  )
+})