diff --git a/src/nvim/eval/buffer.c b/src/nvim/eval/buffer.c
index 9f77acebb2..92bd5fae43 100644
--- a/src/nvim/eval/buffer.c
+++ b/src/nvim/eval/buffer.c
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ void f_bufnr(typval_T *argvars, typval_T *rettv, EvalFuncData fptr)
   const char *name;
   if (buf == NULL
       && argvars[1].v_type != VAR_UNKNOWN
-      && tv_get_number_chk(&argvars[1], &error) != 0
+      && tv_get_bool_chk(&argvars[1], &error) != 0
       && !error
       && (name = tv_get_string_chk(&argvars[0])) != NULL) {
     buf = buflist_new((char *)name, NULL, 1, 0);