diff --git a/modules/lang-mustache/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/lang_mustache/50_multi_search_template.yml b/modules/lang-mustache/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/lang_mustache/50_multi_search_template.yml
index f339731ad130f..8f72583b61d7c 100644
--- a/modules/lang-mustache/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/lang_mustache/50_multi_search_template.yml
+++ b/modules/lang-mustache/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/lang_mustache/50_multi_search_template.yml
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ setup:
   - match:  { responses.1.error.root_cause.0.reason: "/Unexpected.end.of.input/" }
   - match:  { responses.2.hits.total:     1  }
   - match:  { responses.3.error.root_cause.0.type: parsing_exception }
-  - match:  { responses.3.error.root_cause.0.reason: "/no.\\[query\\].registered.for.\\[unknown\\]/" }
+  - match:  { responses.3.error.root_cause.0.reason: "/unknown.query.\\[unknown\\]/" }
 
 ---
 "Multi-search template with invalid request":
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/indices.validate_query/10_basic.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/indices.validate_query/10_basic.yml
index 29b1e664d61c0..88187aa201a28 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/indices.validate_query/10_basic.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/indices.validate_query/10_basic.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ setup:
 
 ---
 "Validate query api":
+  - skip:
+      version: ' - 7.99.99'
+      reason: message changed in 8.0.0
+
   - do:
       indices.validate_query:
         q: query string
@@ -43,7 +47,17 @@ setup:
             invalid_query: {}
 
   - is_false: valid
-  - match: {error: 'org.elasticsearch.common.ParsingException: no [query] registered for [invalid_query]'}
+  - match: {error: '/.+unknown\squery\s\[invalid_query\].+/' }
+
+  - do:
+      indices.validate_query:
+        explain: true
+        body:
+          query:
+            boool: {}
+
+  - is_false: valid
+  - match: {error: '/.+unknown\squery\s\[boool\]\sdid\syou\smean\s\[bool\]\?.+/' }
 
   - do:
       indices.validate_query:
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/SuggestingErrorOnUnknown.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/SuggestingErrorOnUnknown.java
index c24f74ef814a7..231faa61b38c6 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/SuggestingErrorOnUnknown.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/SuggestingErrorOnUnknown.java
@@ -32,7 +32,19 @@
 public class SuggestingErrorOnUnknown implements ErrorOnUnknown {
     @Override
     public String errorMessage(String parserName, String unknownField, Iterable<String> candidates) {
-        String message = String.format(Locale.ROOT, "[%s] unknown field [%s]", parserName, unknownField);
+        return String.format(Locale.ROOT, "[%s] unknown field [%s]%s", parserName, unknownField, suggest(unknownField, candidates));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int priority() {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builds suggestions for an unknown field, returning an empty string if there
+     * aren't any suggestions or " did you mean " and then the list of suggestions. 
+     */
+    public static String suggest(String unknownField, Iterable<String> candidates) {
         // TODO it'd be nice to combine this with BaseRestHandler's implementation.
         LevenshteinDistance ld = new LevenshteinDistance();
         final List<Tuple<Float, String>> scored = new ArrayList<>();
@@ -43,7 +55,7 @@ public String errorMessage(String parserName, String unknownField, Iterable<Stri
             }
         }
         if (scored.isEmpty()) {
-            return message;
+            return "";
         }
         CollectionUtil.timSort(scored, (a, b) -> {
             // sort by distance in reverse order, then parameter name for equal distances
@@ -54,7 +66,7 @@ public String errorMessage(String parserName, String unknownField, Iterable<Stri
             return a.v2().compareTo(b.v2());
         });
         List<String> keys = scored.stream().map(Tuple::v2).collect(toList());
-        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(message).append(" did you mean ");
+        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(" did you mean ");
         if (keys.size() == 1) {
             builder.append("[").append(keys.get(0)).append("]");
         } else {
@@ -63,9 +75,4 @@ public String errorMessage(String parserName, String unknownField, Iterable<Stri
         builder.append("?");
         return builder.toString();
     }
-
-    @Override
-    public int priority() {
-        return 0;
-    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java
index def32f0c75059..d5cc101ede8ad 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.BytesRefs;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.AbstractObjectParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.NamedObjectNotFoundException;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.SuggestingErrorOnUnknown;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentLocation;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
@@ -313,10 +315,9 @@ public static QueryBuilder parseInnerQueryBuilder(XContentParser parser) throws
         try {
             result = parser.namedObject(QueryBuilder.class, queryName, null);
         } catch (NamedObjectNotFoundException e) {
-            // Preserve the error message from 5.0 until we have a compellingly better message so we don't break BWC.
-            // This intentionally doesn't include the causing exception because that'd change the "root_cause" of any unknown query errors
-            throw new ParsingException(new XContentLocation(e.getLineNumber(), e.getColumnNumber()),
-                    "no [query] registered for [" + queryName + "]");
+            String message = String.format(Locale.ROOT, "unknown query [%s]%s", queryName,
+                    SuggestingErrorOnUnknown.suggest(queryName, e.getCandidates()));
+            throw new ParsingException(new XContentLocation(e.getLineNumber(), e.getColumnNumber()), message, e);
         }
         //end_object of the specific query (e.g. match, multi_match etc.) element
         if (parser.currentToken() != XContentParser.Token.END_OBJECT) {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilderTests.java
index 96b9336679f40..6bf2ed8acf6e3 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -78,10 +78,15 @@ public void testParseInnerQueryBuilderExceptions() throws IOException {
             assertEquals("[foo] query malformed, no start_object after query name", exception.getMessage());
         }
 
-        source = "{ \"foo\" : {} }";
+        source = "{ \"boool\" : {} }";
         try (XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, source)) {
             ParsingException exception = expectThrows(ParsingException.class, () ->  parseInnerQueryBuilder(parser));
-            assertEquals("no [query] registered for [foo]", exception.getMessage());
+            assertEquals("unknown query [boool] did you mean [bool]?", exception.getMessage());
+        }
+        source = "{ \"match_\" : {} }";
+        try (XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, source)) {
+            ParsingException exception = expectThrows(ParsingException.class, () ->  parseInnerQueryBuilder(parser));
+            assertEquals("unknown query [match_] did you mean any of [match, match_all, match_none]?", exception.getMessage());
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryBuilderTests.java
index 4678e244193ca..70826f7aab1e8 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ public void testUnknownQueryName() throws IOException {
         String query = "{\"bool\" : {\"must\" : { \"unknown_query\" : { } } } }";
 
         ParsingException ex = expectThrows(ParsingException.class, () -> parseQuery(query));
-        assertEquals("no [query] registered for [unknown_query]", ex.getMessage());
+        assertEquals("unknown query [unknown_query]", ex.getMessage());
     }
 
     public void testRewrite() throws IOException {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/template/SimpleIndexTemplateIT.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/template/SimpleIndexTemplateIT.java
index 38bd2e0199306..6814ebe74c141 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/template/SimpleIndexTemplateIT.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/template/SimpleIndexTemplateIT.java
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ public void testAliasInvalidFilterValidJson() throws Exception {
             () -> createIndex("test"));
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), equalTo("failed to parse filter for alias [invalid_alias]"));
         assertThat(e.getCause(), instanceOf(ParsingException.class));
-        assertThat(e.getCause().getMessage(), equalTo("no [query] registered for [invalid]"));
+        assertThat(e.getCause().getMessage(), equalTo("unknown query [invalid]"));
     }
 
     public void testAliasInvalidFilterInvalidJson() throws Exception {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/datafeeds_crud.yml b/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/datafeeds_crud.yml
index c63aa4b4e48d4..fe1e8f5ad2f8d 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/datafeeds_crud.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/datafeeds_crud.yml
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ setup:
 ---
 "Test put datafeed with invalid query":
   - do:
-      catch: /parsing_exception/
+      catch: /failed\sto\sparse\sfield\s\[query\]/
       ml.put_datafeed:
         datafeed_id: test-datafeed-1
         body:  >
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/execute_watch/20_transform.yml b/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/execute_watch/20_transform.yml
index fa0793378756e..c1d5f3482a972 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/execute_watch/20_transform.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/execute_watch/20_transform.yml
@@ -188,5 +188,5 @@ setup:
   - match: { watch_record.state: "executed" }
   - match: { watch_record.status.execution_state: "executed" }
   - match: { watch_record.result.transform.status: "failure" }
-  - match: { watch_record.result.transform.reason: "no [query] registered for [does_not_exist]" }
+  - match: { watch_record.result.transform.reason: "unknown query [does_not_exist]" }
   - is_true: watch_record.result.transform.error