diff --git a/entityreference.module b/entityreference.module
index 18b329e..375375e 100644
--- a/entityreference.module
+++ b/entityreference.module
@@ -715,6 +715,37 @@ function _entityreference_autocomplete_validate($element, &$form_state, $form) {
     if (preg_match("/.+\((\d+)\)/", $element['#value'], $matches)) {
       $value = $matches[1];
     }
+    else {
+      // Try to get a match from the input string when the user didn't use the
+      // autocomplete but filled in a value manually.
+      $field = field_info_field($element['#field_name']);
+      $handler = entityreference_get_selection_handler($field);
+      $entities = $handler->getReferencableEntities($element['#value'], '=', 6);
+      if (empty($entities)) {
+        // Error if there are no entities available for a required field.
+        form_error($element, t('There are no entities matching "%value"', array('%value' => $element['#value'])));
+      }
+      elseif (count($entities) > 5) {
+        // Error if there are more than 5 matching entities.
+        form_error($element, t('Many entities are called %value. Specify the one you want by appending the id in parentheses, like "@value (@id)"', array(
+          '%value' => $element['#value'],
+          '@value' => $element['#value'],
+          '@id' => key($entities),
+        )));
+      }
+      elseif (count($entities) > 1) {
+        // More helpful error if there are only a few matching entities.
+        $multiples = array();
+        foreach ($entities as $id => $name) {
+          $multiples[] = $name . ' (' . $id . ')';
+        }
+        form_error($element, t('Multiple entities match this reference; "%multiple"', array('%multiple' => implode('", "', $multiples))));
+      }
+      else {
+        // Take the one and only matching entity.
+        $value = key($entities);
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   // Update the value of this element so the field can validate the product IDs.