diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/yaml_inventory_more_tolerant.yml b/changelogs/fragments/yaml_inventory_more_tolerant.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e301fa3bd92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/yaml_inventory_more_tolerant.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - make YAML inventory more tolerant to comments/empty/None entries
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/yaml.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/yaml.py
index da8cbfafaef..d013fc48374 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/yaml.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/yaml.py
@@ -135,7 +135,13 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseFileInventoryPlugin):
 
                 for key in group_data:
 
-                    if key == 'vars':
+                    if not isinstance(group_data[key], (MutableMapping, NoneType)):
+                        self.display.warning('Skipping key (%s) in group (%s) as it is not a mapping, it is a %s' % (key, group, type(group_data[key])))
+                        continue
+
+                    if isinstance(group_data[key], NoneType):
+                        self.display.vvv('Skipping empty key (%s) in group (%s)' % (key, group))
+                    elif key == 'vars':
                         for var in group_data[key]:
                             self.inventory.set_variable(group, var, group_data[key][var])
                     elif key == 'children':
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/aliases b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/aliases
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a6dafcf8cd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/aliases
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+shippable/posix/group1
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/empty.json b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/empty.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e1ae0684631
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/empty.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+    "_meta": {
+        "hostvars": {}
+    }, 
+    "all": {
+        "children": [
+            "ungrouped"
+        ]
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..b82f499d162
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# handle empty/commented out group keys correctly https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/47254
+ANSIBLE_VERBOSITY=0 diff -w <(ansible-inventory -i ./test.yml --list) success.json
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/success.json b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/success.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a8b15f96c34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/success.json
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+{
+    "_meta": {
+        "hostvars": {
+            "alice": {
+                "status": "single"
+            }, 
+            "bobby": {
+                "in_trouble": true, 
+                "popular": false
+            }, 
+            "cindy": {
+                "in_trouble": true, 
+                "popular": true
+            }, 
+            "greg": {
+                "in_trouble": true, 
+                "popular": true
+            }, 
+            "jan": {
+                "in_trouble": true, 
+                "popular": false
+            }, 
+            "marcia": {
+                "in_trouble": true, 
+                "popular": true
+            }, 
+            "peter": {
+                "in_trouble": true, 
+                "popular": false
+            }
+        }
+    }, 
+    "all": {
+        "children": [
+            "cousins", 
+            "kids", 
+            "the-maid", 
+            "ungrouped"
+        ]
+    }, 
+    "cousins": {
+        "children": [
+            "redheads"
+        ]
+    }, 
+    "kids": {
+        "hosts": [
+            "bobby", 
+            "cindy", 
+            "greg", 
+            "jan", 
+            "marcia", 
+            "peter"
+        ]
+    }, 
+    "the-maid": {
+        "hosts": [
+            "alice"
+        ]
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/test.yml b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/test.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9755396aae0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/test.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+all:
+    children:
+        kids:
+            hosts:
+                marcia:
+                    popular: True
+                jan:
+                    popular: False
+                cindy:
+                    popular: True
+                greg:
+                    popular: True
+                peter:
+                    popular: False
+                bobby:
+                    popular: False
+            vars:
+                in_trouble: True
+        cousins:
+            children:
+                redheads:
+                    hosts:
+                        #oliver:  # this used to cause an error and deliver incomplete inventory
+        the-maid:
+            hosts:
+                alice:
+                    status: single