diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/sort_by.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/sort_by.rs
index 869853f43..a2cb055f2 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/sort_by.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/sort_by.rs
@@ -135,6 +135,17 @@ pub fn sort(
         } => {
             let should_sort_case_insensitively = insensitive && vec.iter().all(|x| x.is_string());
 
+            if !vec
+                .windows(2)
+                .all(|elem| coerce_compare(&elem[0], &elem[1]).is_ok())
+            {
+                return Err(ShellError::labeled_error(
+                    "Not all values can be compared",
+                    "not all values compare",
+                    tag,
+                ));
+            }
+
             vec.sort_by(|a, b| {
                 if should_sort_case_insensitively {
                     let lowercase_a_string = a.expect_string().to_ascii_lowercase();
diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/tests/commands/sort_by.rs b/crates/nu-cli/tests/commands/sort_by.rs
index 4aa22524e..98bdd51d8 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/tests/commands/sort_by.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/tests/commands/sort_by.rs
@@ -45,6 +45,21 @@ fn by_invalid_column() {
     assert!(actual.err.contains("invalid column"));
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn by_invalid_types() {
+    let actual = nu!(
+        cwd: "tests/fixtures/formats", pipeline(
+        r#"
+            open cargo_sample.toml --raw
+            | echo [1 "foo"]
+            | sort-by
+        "#
+    ));
+
+    assert!(actual.err.contains("Not all values can be compared"));
+    assert!(actual.err.contains("not all values compare"));
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn sort_primitive_values() {
     let actual = nu!(