diff --git a/policy/compiler.go b/policy/compiler.go
index 6a362328..0b7010c1 100644
--- a/policy/compiler.go
+++ b/policy/compiler.go
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ func (c *compiler) checkMatchOutputTypesAgree(rule *CompiledRule, iss *cel.Issue
 		// Handle assignability as the output type is assignable to the match output or vice versa.
 		// During composition, this is roughly how the type-checker will handle the type agreement check.
 		if !(outputType.IsAssignableType(matchOutputType) || matchOutputType.IsAssignableType(outputType)) {
-			iss.ReportErrorAtID(m.Output().SourceID(), "incompatible output types: %s not assignable to %s", outputType, matchOutputType)
+			iss.ReportErrorAtID(m.Output().SourceID(), "incompatible output types: match block has output type %s, but previous match blocks have output type %s", matchOutputType, outputType)
 			return
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/policy/helper_test.go b/policy/helper_test.go
index c621d7a1..a0d2d171 100644
--- a/policy/helper_test.go
+++ b/policy/helper_test.go
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ ERROR: testdata/errors/policy.yaml:38:75: Syntax error: extraneous input ']' exp
 ERROR: testdata/errors/policy.yaml:41:67: undeclared reference to 'format' (in container '')
  |         "invalid values provided on one or more labels: %s".format([variables.invalid])
  | ..................................................................^
-ERROR: testdata/errors/policy.yaml:45:16: incompatible output types: bool not assignable to string
+ERROR: testdata/errors/policy.yaml:45:16: incompatible output types: match block has output type string, but previous match blocks have output type bool
  |       output: "'false'"
  | ...............^`,
 		},