diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
index 92dd7948715..3f679271111 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
@@ -1809,6 +1809,7 @@ func (p *Package) load(ctx context.Context, path string, stk *ImportStack, impor
 
 	p.EmbedFiles, p.Internal.Embed, err = resolveEmbed(p.Dir, p.EmbedPatterns)
 	if err != nil {
+		p.Incomplete = true
 		setError(err)
 		embedErr := err.(*EmbedError)
 		p.Error.setPos(p.Internal.Build.EmbedPatternPos[embedErr.Pattern])
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/embed.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/embed.txt
index 2ad799b7a7c..6ad42e9cd18 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/embed.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/embed.txt
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ stderr '^x.go:5:12: pattern [*]t: cannot embed directory t: contains no embeddab
 cp x.txt t/.git
 ! go build -x
 stderr '^x.go:5:12: pattern [*]t: cannot embed directory t: contains no embeddable files$'
+go list -e -f '{{.Incomplete}}'
+stdout 'true'
 [symlink] symlink t/x.link -> ../x.txt
 [symlink] ! go build -x
 [symlink] stderr '^x.go:5:12: pattern [*]t: cannot embed directory t: contains no embeddable files$'