diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py b/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
index 1d8d43b0d2a..ff5e512402d 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class AdHocCLI(CLI):
 
         if self.options.subset:
             inventory.subset(self.options.subset)
-            if len(inventory.list_hosts()) == 0 and not no_hosts:
+            if len(inventory.list_hosts(pattern)) == 0 and not no_hosts:
                 # Invalid limit
                 raise AnsibleError("Specified --limit does not match any hosts")