diff --git a/evdns.c b/evdns.c
index 469f63b6..af10da8c 100644
--- a/evdns.c
+++ b/evdns.c
@@ -5440,8 +5440,9 @@ evdns_cache_lookup(struct evdns_base *base,
 	EVDNS_UNLOCK(base);
 out:
 	if (n_found) {
-		/* Note that we return an empty answer if we found entries for
-		 * this hostname but none were of the right address type. */
+		if (!ai) {
+			return EVUTIL_EAI_ADDRFAMILY;
+		}
 		*res = ai;
 		return 0;
 	} else {
@@ -5764,15 +5765,19 @@ evdns_getaddrinfo(struct evdns_base *dns_base,
 	}
 
 	/* If there is an entry in the hosts file, we should give it now. */
-	if (!evdns_getaddrinfo_fromhosts(dns_base, nodename, &hints, port, &res)) {
-		cb(0, res, arg);
+	err = evdns_getaddrinfo_fromhosts(dns_base, nodename, &hints, port, &res);
+	if (!err || err == EVUTIL_EAI_ADDRFAMILY) {
+		cb(err, res, arg);
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
 	/* See if we have it in the cache */
-	if (!dns_base->disable_cache && !evdns_cache_lookup(dns_base, nodename, &hints, port, &res)) {
-		cb(0, res, arg);
-		return NULL;
+	if (!dns_base->disable_cache) {
+		err = evdns_cache_lookup(dns_base, nodename, &hints, port, &res);
+		if (!err || err == EVUTIL_EAI_ADDRFAMILY) {
+			cb(err, res, arg);
+			return NULL;
+		}
 	}
 
 	/* Okay, things are serious now. We're going to need to actually
diff --git a/include/event2/dns.h b/include/event2/dns.h
index 73af0ac4..5af662f4 100644
--- a/include/event2/dns.h
+++ b/include/event2/dns.h
@@ -819,6 +819,7 @@ struct evdns_getaddrinfo_request;
  * - For ai_protocol, we only handle IPPROTO_TCP, IPPROTO_UDP, and 0.
  * - If we cached a response exclusively for a different address type (e.g.
  *   PF_INET), we will set addrinfo to NULL (e.g. queried with PF_INET6)
+ *   and return EVUTIL_EAI_ADDRFAMILY.
  * - Cache isn't hit when AI_CANONNAME is set but cached server response
  *	 doesn't contain CNAME.
  * - If we can answer immediately (e.g. using hosts file, there is an error
diff --git a/test/regress_dns.c b/test/regress_dns.c
index 804717a4..6f92aa9f 100644
--- a/test/regress_dns.c
+++ b/test/regress_dns.c
@@ -2155,7 +2155,7 @@ test_getaddrinfo_async(void *arg)
 	tt_assert(!b_out[2].ai->ai_next);
 	test_ai_eq(b_out[2].ai, "[b0b::f00d]:8002", SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
 
-	/* 2.5: v6only.example.com cache lookup with PF_INET should return NULL addressinfo. */
+	/* 2.5: v6only.example.com cache lookup with PF_INET should return EVUTIL_EAI_ADDRFAMILY. */
 	hints.ai_family = PF_INET;
 	hints.ai_flags = 0;
 	evutil_freeaddrinfo(b_out[2].ai); // since this is reused
@@ -2164,7 +2164,7 @@ test_getaddrinfo_async(void *arg)
 	    &hints, gai_cb, &b_out[2]);
 	tt_assert(!r);
 	// check
-	tt_int_op(b_out[2].err, ==, 0);
+	tt_int_op(b_out[2].err, ==, EVUTIL_EAI_ADDRFAMILY);
 	tt_assert(!b_out[2].ai);
 
 	/* 3: v4assert.example.com should have been cached */