diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ed14a94..38cb6fa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ const merge = createMerger<State>({
 
 `keyBy` maps a list path to its identity field. Identity values must be stable, unique strings or numbers. Matching is strict, so `1` and `"1"` are different items, while `0` and `""` are valid identities. Missing, duplicate, `NaN`, and non-string/non-number identities throw.
 
-`replace` makes a path swap wholesale instead of deep-merging or reconciling. A wholesale swap never recurses, so `createMerger` rejects any policy nested below a replaced path. The `"order.items[]"` form is the item-swap idiom: the list still matches items by identity, but each matched item is replaced by its incoming value instead of merged:
+`replace` makes a path swap wholesale instead of deep-merging or reconciling. A wholesale swap never recurses, so `createMerger` rejects any policy nested below a replaced path. Keying and replacing the same path is rejected too: one says to enter the list and the other says it is opaque, so they contradict rather than nest. The `"order.items[]"` form is the item-swap idiom: the list still matches items by identity, but each matched item is replaced by its incoming value instead of merged:
 
 ```ts
 const replaceItems = createMerger<State>({
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ Paths are dot-separated property names. `[]` means “inside each keyed item of
 
 There are no wildcards, indices, root tokens, or escaping. Properties containing `.`, `[`, or `]` are not addressable in v1. The root cannot be keyed; wrap a top-level array in an object when it needs reconciliation.
 
-All configuration is validated when the merger is created: bad grammar, reserved names, duplicates, `[]` segments under lists that have no key, and policies made unreachable by a broader `replace` all throw. Paths are never checked against `T` or runtime data.
+All configuration is validated when the merger is created: bad grammar, reserved names, duplicates, `[]` segments under lists that have no key, policies made unreachable by a broader `replace`, and a path that is both keyed and replaced all throw. Paths are never checked against `T` or runtime data.
 
 ## Semantics
 
diff --git a/src/paths.ts b/src/paths.ts
index d4b614f..1368818 100644
--- a/src/paths.ts
+++ b/src/paths.ts
@@ -87,11 +87,24 @@ export function compileOptions(options: MergeOptions): CompiledOptions {
     // itself; the reverse nesting ('<list>[]' under a keyBy list) is the
     // load-bearing item-swap idiom and passes.
     for (const keyed of keyPolicies) {
-      if (isPrefix(policy.segments, keyed.segments)) {
+      if (!isPrefix(policy.segments, keyed.segments)) continue;
+      // Equal paths do not nest. Neither policy shadows the other: one says
+      // the list is opaque and the other says to enter it, so the config
+      // contradicts itself rather than stranding a subtree.
+      // A keyBy path never ends in '[]', so appending it always names the
+      // item-swap spelling, which is not guessable from the error. Name the
+      // spelling and stop there: what else the caller has configured decides
+      // whether the rest compiles, and this message cannot know that.
+      if (policy.segments.length === keyed.segments.length) {
         throw new KeyfoldConfigError(
-          `replace path '${policy.path}' makes keyBy path '${keyed.path}' unreachable`,
+          `path '${policy.path}' cannot be both keyed and replaced: keyBy enters the list, ` +
+            `replace treats it as opaque; replacing matched items instead is spelled ` +
+            `'${policy.path}[]'`,
         );
       }
+      throw new KeyfoldConfigError(
+        `replace path '${policy.path}' makes keyBy path '${keyed.path}' unreachable`,
+      );
     }
     for (const other of replacePolicies) {
       if (
diff --git a/test/config.test.ts b/test/config.test.ts
index c50ada9..dadc14c 100644
--- a/test/config.test.ts
+++ b/test/config.test.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ describe("configuration validation", () => {
   });
 
   const unreachableOptions: MergeOptions[] = [
-    { keyBy: { "order.items": "id" }, replace: ["order.items"] },
     { keyBy: { "order.items": "id" }, replace: ["order"] },
     {
       keyBy: { "order.items": "id", "order.items[].components": "sku" },
@@ -61,6 +60,30 @@ describe("configuration validation", () => {
     },
   );
 
+  test("names the item-swap idiom when one path is both keyed and replaced", () => {
+    // Nothing is stranded here, so 'unreachable' would misdescribe it: the two
+    // policies contradict each other at the same node. The message has to name
+    // the item-swap spelling, because that spelling is not guessable.
+    const collide = () =>
+      createMerger({ keyBy: { "order.items": "id" }, replace: ["order.items"] });
+
+    expect(collide).toThrow(KeyfoldConfigError);
+    expect(collide).toThrow(/cannot be both keyed and replaced/);
+    expect(collide).toThrow(/'order\.items\[\]'/);
+    expect(collide).not.toThrow(/unreachable/);
+  });
+
+  test("names the item-swap spelling without prescribing the rest of the config", () => {
+    // The message reports one collision; it cannot know whether the caller's
+    // other policies also collide. Naming a spelling stays true either way,
+    // where telling them what to do would not.
+    const alsoCollidesElsewhere = () =>
+      createMerger({ keyBy: { items: "id" }, replace: ["items", "items[].parts"] });
+
+    expect(alsoCollidesElsewhere).toThrow(/'items\[\]'/);
+    expect(alsoCollidesElsewhere).not.toThrow(/\b(drop|remove|use replace path)\b/);
+  });
+
   test("rejects a replace path shadowed by a broader replace path", () => {
     expect(() => createMerger({ replace: ["a", "a.b"] })).toThrow(/unreachable/);
     expect(() => createMerger({ replace: ["a.b", "a"] })).toThrow(/unreachable/);