diff --git a/compiler/semtypes.nim b/compiler/semtypes.nim
index 3fa4493345..8ddc2196a6 100644
--- a/compiler/semtypes.nim
+++ b/compiler/semtypes.nim
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const
   errWrongNumberOfVariables = "wrong number of variables"
   errInvalidOrderInEnumX = "invalid order in enum '$1'"
   errOrdinalTypeExpected = "ordinal type expected"
-  errSetTooBig = "set is too large"
+  errSetTooBig = "set is too large; use `std/sets` for ordinal types with more than 2^16 elements"
   errBaseTypeMustBeOrdinal = "base type of a set must be an ordinal"
   errInheritanceOnlyWithNonFinalObjects = "inheritance only works with non-final objects"
   errXExpectsOneTypeParam = "'$1' expects one type parameter"
diff --git a/doc/sets_fragment.txt b/doc/sets_fragment.txt
index bc81897322..3e91c85f7e 100644
--- a/doc/sets_fragment.txt
+++ b/doc/sets_fragment.txt
@@ -13,9 +13,13 @@ range `0 .. MaxSetElements-1` where `MaxSetElements` is currently always
 The reason is that sets are implemented as high performance bit vectors.
 Attempting to declare a set with a larger type will result in an error:
 
-  ```nim
-  var s: set[int64] # Error: set is too large
-  ```
+```nim
+
+  var s: set[int64] # Error: set is too large; use `std/sets` for ordinal types
+                    # with more than 2^16 elements
+
+```
+
 
 **Note:** Nim also offers `hash sets <sets.html>`_ (which you need to import
 with `import sets`), which have no such restrictions.