diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index ffbd3ce5c5..65d43c7d48 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -1013,6 +1013,7 @@ int cmd_blame(int argc,
 		case PARSE_OPT_UNKNOWN:
 			break;
 		case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+		case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 		case PARSE_OPT_ERROR:
 		case PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND:
 			exit(129);
diff --git a/builtin/shortlog.c b/builtin/shortlog.c
index 6b2a0b93b5..cd262bd376 100644
--- a/builtin/shortlog.c
+++ b/builtin/shortlog.c
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ int cmd_shortlog(int argc,
 		case PARSE_OPT_UNKNOWN:
 			break;
 		case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+		case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 		case PARSE_OPT_ERROR:
 		case PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND:
 			exit(129);
diff --git a/builtin/update-index.c b/builtin/update-index.c
index 3d6646c318..ac4610ec94 100644
--- a/builtin/update-index.c
+++ b/builtin/update-index.c
@@ -1133,6 +1133,7 @@ int cmd_update_index(int argc,
 			break;
 		switch (parseopt_state) {
 		case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+		case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 		case PARSE_OPT_ERROR:
 			exit(129);
 		case PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE:
diff --git a/parse-options.c b/parse-options.c
index f4647e0099..fd8ceed82b 100644
--- a/parse-options.c
+++ b/parse-options.c
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ static enum parse_opt_result parse_long_opt(
 			ambiguous.option->long_name,
 			(abbrev.flags & OPT_UNSET) ?  "no-" : "",
 			abbrev.option->long_name);
-		return PARSE_OPT_HELP;
+		return PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR;
 	}
 	if (abbrev.option) {
 		if (*arg_end)
@@ -1037,6 +1037,7 @@ enum parse_opt_result parse_options_step(struct parse_opt_ctx_t *ctx,
 				usage_with_options(usagestr, options);
 			case PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE:
 			case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+			case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 			case PARSE_OPT_ERROR:
 			case PARSE_OPT_DONE:
 			case PARSE_OPT_NON_OPTION:
@@ -1072,6 +1073,7 @@ enum parse_opt_result parse_options_step(struct parse_opt_ctx_t *ctx,
 			case PARSE_OPT_NON_OPTION:
 			case PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND:
 			case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+			case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 			case PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE:
 				BUG("parse_short_opt() cannot return these");
 			case PARSE_OPT_DONE:
@@ -1099,6 +1101,7 @@ enum parse_opt_result parse_options_step(struct parse_opt_ctx_t *ctx,
 				case PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND:
 				case PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE:
 				case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+				case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 					BUG("parse_short_opt() cannot return these");
 				case PARSE_OPT_DONE:
 					break;
@@ -1132,6 +1135,7 @@ enum parse_opt_result parse_options_step(struct parse_opt_ctx_t *ctx,
 		case PARSE_OPT_UNKNOWN:
 			goto unknown;
 		case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+		case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 			goto show_usage;
 		case PARSE_OPT_NON_OPTION:
 		case PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND:
@@ -1197,6 +1201,7 @@ int parse_options(int argc, const char **argv,
 	parse_options_start_1(&ctx, argc, argv, prefix, options, flags);
 	switch (parse_options_step(&ctx, options, usagestr)) {
 	case PARSE_OPT_HELP:
+	case PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR:
 	case PARSE_OPT_ERROR:
 		exit(129);
 	case PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE:
@@ -1363,7 +1368,7 @@ static enum parse_opt_result usage_with_options_internal(struct parse_opt_ctx_t
 	parse_options_check_harder(opts);
 
 	if (!usagestr)
-		return PARSE_OPT_HELP;
+		return err ? PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR : PARSE_OPT_HELP;
 
 	if (!err && ctx && ctx->flags & PARSE_OPT_SHELL_EVAL)
 		fprintf(outfile, "cat <<\\EOF\n");
@@ -1476,7 +1481,7 @@ static enum parse_opt_result usage_with_options_internal(struct parse_opt_ctx_t
 	if (!err && ctx && ctx->flags & PARSE_OPT_SHELL_EVAL)
 		fputs("EOF\n", outfile);
 
-	return PARSE_OPT_HELP;
+	return err ? PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR : PARSE_OPT_HELP;
 }
 
 void NORETURN usage_with_options(const char * const *usagestr,
diff --git a/parse-options.h b/parse-options.h
index 0d1f738f8d..3ec8ba5cc8 100644
--- a/parse-options.h
+++ b/parse-options.h
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ enum parse_opt_option_flags {
 };
 
 enum parse_opt_result {
-	PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE = -3,
+	PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE = -4,
+	PARSE_OPT_HELP_ERROR = -3,
 	PARSE_OPT_HELP = -2,
 	PARSE_OPT_ERROR = -1,	/* must be the same as error() */
 	PARSE_OPT_DONE = 0,	/* fixed so that "return 0" works */