diff --git a/src/parser.cpp b/src/parser.cpp
index 0cd96f5b5..0364e2c2b 100644
--- a/src/parser.cpp
+++ b/src/parser.cpp
@@ -718,7 +718,17 @@ gb_internal ExactValue exact_value_from_token(AstFile *f, Token const &token) {
 	}
 	ExactValue value = exact_value_from_basic_literal(token.kind, s);
 	if (value.kind == ExactValue_Invalid) {
-		syntax_error(token, "Invalid token literal");
+		switch (token.kind) {
+		case Token_Integer:
+			syntax_error(token, "Invalid integer literal");
+			break;
+		case Token_Float:
+			syntax_error(token, "Invalid float literal");
+			break;
+		default:
+			syntax_error(token, "Invalid token literal");
+			break;
+		}
 	}
 	return value;
 }
diff --git a/src/tokenizer.cpp b/src/tokenizer.cpp
index f7751d840..1a37043d7 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.cpp
+++ b/src/tokenizer.cpp
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ gb_internal gb_inline i32 digit_value(Rune r) {
 }
 
 gb_internal gb_inline void scan_mantissa(Tokenizer *t, i32 base) {
+	base = 16; // always check for any possible letter
 	while (digit_value(t->curr_rune) < base || t->curr_rune == '_') {
 		advance_to_next_rune(t);
 	}