diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f1e6f1f..07bbbe3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## v0.4.0 - unreleased
 
+- Added two methods to find _exactly_ one file or path (and raise an error otherwise):
+  `FileFinder.find_single_file` and `FileFinder.find_single_path`
+  ([#101](https://github.com/mathause/filefinder/pull/101)).
 - The `FileFinder.find_files` arguments `on_parse_error` and `_allow_empty` can no
   longer be passed by position ([#99](https://github.com/mathause/filefinder/pull/99)).
 - `FileFinder` now raises an error if an invalid `"{placeholder}"` is used
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9885d95..ee2014c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ file_pattern = "{category}_file_{number}"
 ff = FileFinder(path_pattern, file_pattern)
 ```
 
+## Create file and path names
+
 Everything enclosed in curly brackets is a placeholder. Thus, you can create file and
 path names like so:
 
@@ -27,6 +29,8 @@ ff.create_full_name(category="a", number=1)
 >>> /root/a/a_file_1
 ```
 
+## Find files on disk
+
 However, the strength of filefinder is parsing file names on disk. Assuming you have the
 following folder structure:
 
@@ -73,6 +77,17 @@ ff.find_files(category=["a1", "b2"], number=1)
 >>> 2  /root/b2/b2_file_1       b2      1
 ```
 
+Often we need to be sure to find _exactly one_ file or path. This can be achieved using
+
+```python
+ff.find_single_file(category="a1", number=1)
+>>> <FileContainer>
+>>>              filename category number
+>>> 0  /root/a1/a1_file_1       a1      1
+```
+
+If none or more than one file is found a `ValueError` is raised.
+
 ## Format syntax
 
 You can pass format specifiers to allow more complex formats, see
diff --git a/filefinder/_filefinder.py b/filefinder/_filefinder.py
index f3d10ff..eea67b3 100644
--- a/filefinder/_filefinder.py
+++ b/filefinder/_filefinder.py
@@ -144,6 +144,39 @@ def find(
 
         return fc
 
+    def find_single(self, keys=None, **keys_kwargs):
+        """
+        find exactly one file/ path in the file system using the file and path pattern
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        keys : dict
+            Dictionary containing keys to create the search pattern.
+        **keys_kwargs : {key: indexer, ...}, optional
+            The keyword arguments form of ``keys``. When the same key is passed in
+            ``keys`` and ``keys_kwargs`` the latter takes priority.
+
+        Notes
+        -----
+        Missing ``keys`` are replaced with ``"*"``.
+
+        Raises
+        ------
+        ValueError : if more or less than one file/ path is found
+        """
+
+        fc = self.find(keys, on_parse_error="raise", _allow_empty=False, **keys_kwargs)
+
+        if len(fc) > 1:
+            n_found = len(fc)
+            msg = (
+                f"Found more than one ({n_found}) files/ paths. Please adjust your"
+                f" query.\nFirst five files/ paths:\n{fc.df.head()}"
+            )
+            raise ValueError(msg)
+
+        return fc
+
     @staticmethod
     def _glob(pattern):
         """Return a list of paths matching a pathname pattern
@@ -373,15 +406,15 @@ def find_paths(
         >>> file_pattern = "{category}_file_{number}"
         >>> ff = FileFinder(path_pattern, file_pattern)
 
-        >>> ff.find()   # doctest: +SKIP
+        >>> ff.find_paths()   # doctest: +SKIP
         Looks for
         - "/root/*/"
 
-        >>> ff.find(category="foo")   # doctest: +SKIP
+        >>> ff.find_paths(category="foo")   # doctest: +SKIP
         Looks for
         - "/root/foo/"
 
-        >>> ff.find(dict(category=["foo", "bar"]))   # doctest: +SKIP
+        >>> ff.find_paths(dict(category=["foo", "bar"]))   # doctest: +SKIP
         Looks for
         - "/root/foo/"
         - "/root/bar/"
@@ -446,6 +479,52 @@ def find_files(
             **keys_kwargs,
         )
 
+    def find_single_path(self, keys=None, **keys_kwargs):
+        """
+        find exactly one path in the file system using the path pattern
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        keys : dict
+            Dictionary containing keys to create the search pattern.
+        **keys_kwargs : {key: indexer, ...}, optional
+            The keyword arguments form of ``keys``. When the same key is passed in
+            ``keys`` and ``keys_kwargs`` the latter takes priority.
+
+        Notes
+        -----
+        Missing ``keys`` are replaced with ``"*"``.
+
+        Raises
+        ------
+        ValueError : if more or less than one path is found
+        """
+
+        return self.path.find_single(keys, **keys_kwargs)
+
+    def find_single_file(self, keys=None, **keys_kwargs):
+        """
+        find exactly one file in the file system using the file and path pattern
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        keys : dict
+            Dictionary containing keys to create the search pattern.
+        **keys_kwargs : {key: indexer, ...}, optional
+            The keyword arguments form of ``keys``. When the same key is passed in
+            ``keys`` and ``keys_kwargs`` the latter takes priority.
+
+        Notes
+        -----
+        Missing ``keys`` are replaced with ``"*"``.
+
+        Raises
+        ------
+        ValueError : if more or less than one file is found
+        """
+
+        return self.full.find_single(keys, **keys_kwargs)
+
     def __repr__(self):
 
         repr_keys = "', '".join(sorted(self.full.keys))
diff --git a/filefinder/tests/test_filefinder.py b/filefinder/tests/test_filefinder.py
index 8177250..f7bc105 100644
--- a/filefinder/tests/test_filefinder.py
+++ b/filefinder/tests/test_filefinder.py
@@ -317,6 +317,33 @@ def test_find_paths_one_of_several(tmp_path, test_paths, find_kwargs):
     pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(result.df, expected)
 
 
+def test_find_single_path(tmp_path, test_paths):
+
+    path_pattern = tmp_path / "{a}/foo"
+    file_pattern = "file_pattern"
+
+    ff = FileFinder(
+        path_pattern=path_pattern, file_pattern=file_pattern, test_paths=test_paths
+    )
+
+    # error if more than one is found
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=r"Found more than one \(2\) files/ paths"):
+        ff.find_single_path()
+
+    # error if more than one is found
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Found no files matching criteria"):
+        ff.find_single_path(a="a3")
+
+    expected = {"filename": {0: str(tmp_path / "a1/foo/*")}, "a": {0: "a1"}}
+    expected = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(expected)
+
+    result = ff.find_single_path(a="a1")
+    pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(result.df, expected)
+
+    result = ff.find_single_path({"a": "a1"})
+    pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(result.df, expected)
+
+
 def test_find_file_none_found(tmp_path, test_paths):
 
     path_pattern = tmp_path / "{a}/foo/"
@@ -457,6 +484,33 @@ def test_find_files_one_of_several(tmp_path, test_paths, find_kwargs):
     pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(result.df, expected)
 
 
+def test_find_single_file(tmp_path, test_paths):
+
+    path_pattern = tmp_path / "{a}/foo"
+    file_pattern = "file"
+
+    ff = FileFinder(
+        path_pattern=path_pattern, file_pattern=file_pattern, test_paths=test_paths
+    )
+
+    # error if more than one is found
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=r"Found more than one \(2\) files/ paths"):
+        ff.find_single_file()
+
+    # error if more than one is found
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Found no files matching criteria"):
+        ff.find_single_file(a="a3")
+
+    expected = {"filename": {0: str(tmp_path / "a1/foo/file")}, "a": {0: "a1"}}
+    expected = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(expected)
+
+    result = ff.find_single_file(a="a1")
+    pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(result.df, expected)
+
+    result = ff.find_single_file({"a": "a1"})
+    pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(result.df, expected)
+
+
 def test_find_paths_scalar_number():
 
     ff = FileFinder(