diff --git a/src/httpx2/httpx2/_config.py b/src/httpx2/httpx2/_config.py
index 46a6e6ec..6228f8c3 100644
--- a/src/httpx2/httpx2/_config.py
+++ b/src/httpx2/httpx2/_config.py
@@ -55,16 +55,24 @@ def create_ssl_context(
     else:
         ctx = verify
 
-    if cert:  # pragma: nocover
+    if cert is not None:  # pragma: nocover
+        cert_chain: tuple[str, ...]
+        if isinstance(cert, str):
+            cert_chain = (cert,)
+        elif isinstance(cert, tuple) and len(cert) in (2, 3):
+            cert_chain = cert
+        else:
+            raise TypeError(
+                "cert must be a path to a certificate file or a tuple of "
+                "(certfile, keyfile) or (certfile, keyfile, password)"
+            )
+
         message = (
             "`cert=...` is deprecated. Use `verify=<ssl_context>` instead,"
             "with `.load_cert_chain()` to configure the certificate chain."
         )
         warnings.warn(message, DeprecationWarning)
-        if isinstance(cert, str):
-            ctx.load_cert_chain(cert)
-        else:
-            ctx.load_cert_chain(*cert)
+        ctx.load_cert_chain(*cert_chain)
 
     return ctx
 
diff --git a/tests/httpx2/test_config.py b/tests/httpx2/test_config.py
index ef47844e..2bfaa558 100644
--- a/tests/httpx2/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/httpx2/test_config.py
@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@ def test_load_ssl_config_cert_without_key_raises(cert_pem_file: str) -> None:
         context.load_cert_chain(cert_pem_file)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "cert", [Path("/path/to/cert.pem"), (), ("cert.pem",), ("cert.pem", "key.pem", "password", "extra")]
+)
+def test_load_ssl_config_invalid_cert_type_raises(cert: object) -> None:
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="cert must be a path to a certificate file"):
+        httpx2.create_ssl_context(cert=cert)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+
+
 def test_load_ssl_config_no_verify() -> None:
     context = httpx2.create_ssl_context(verify=False)
     assert context.verify_mode == ssl.VerifyMode.CERT_NONE