diff --git a/src/emu/clifront.c b/src/emu/clifront.c
index 004be083019..3842a6ab718 100644
--- a/src/emu/clifront.c
+++ b/src/emu/clifront.c
@@ -228,8 +228,56 @@ int cli_frontend::execute(int argc, char **argv)
 						if (found) break;
 					}
 				}
-				if (!found)
+				if (!found) {
+					const device_image_interface *image = NULL;								
+					for (bool gotone = config.devicelist().first(image); gotone; gotone = image->next(image))
+					{
+						const char *interface = image->image_interface();
+						if (interface != NULL)
+						{
+							for (device_t *swlists = config.devicelist().first(SOFTWARE_LIST); swlists != NULL; swlists = swlists->typenext())
+							{
+								software_list_config *swlist = (software_list_config *)downcast<const legacy_device_base *>(swlists)->inline_config();
+
+								for (int i = 0; i < DEVINFO_STR_SWLIST_MAX - DEVINFO_STR_SWLIST_0; i++)
+								{
+									if (swlist->list_name[i] && *swlist->list_name[i])
+									{
+										software_list *list = software_list_open(m_options, swlist->list_name[i], FALSE, NULL);
+
+										if (list)
+										{
+											software_info *matches[10] = { 0 };
+											int softnum;
+
+											software_list_parse(list, list->error_proc, NULL);
+											// get the top 5 approximate matches for the selected device interface (i.e. only carts for cartslot, etc.)
+											software_list_find_approx_matches(list, m_options.software_name(), ARRAY_LENGTH(matches), matches, image->image_interface());
+
+											if (matches[0] != 0)
+											{
+												if (swlist->list_type == SOFTWARE_LIST_ORIGINAL_SYSTEM)
+													mame_printf_error("* Software list \"%s\" (%s) matches: \n", swlist->list_name[i], software_list_get_description(list));
+												else
+													mame_printf_error("* Compatible software list \"%s\" (%s) matches: \n", swlist->list_name[i], software_list_get_description(list));
+
+												// print them out
+												for (softnum = 0; softnum < ARRAY_LENGTH(matches); softnum++)
+													if (matches[softnum] != NULL)
+														mame_printf_error("%-18s%s\n", matches[softnum]->shortname, matches[softnum]->longname);
+
+												mame_printf_error("\n");
+											}
+											software_list_close(list);
+										}
+									}
+								}
+							}
+							break;
+						}
+					}
 					throw emu_fatalerror(MAMERR_FATALERROR, "Software item '%s' can not be found in any list\n",m_options.software_name());
+				}
 			}
 			// otherwise just run the game
 			m_result = mame_execute(m_options, m_osd);
diff --git a/src/emu/softlist.h b/src/emu/softlist.h
index 8e539119c1d..92ebc2f2b0f 100644
--- a/src/emu/softlist.h
+++ b/src/emu/softlist.h
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ const char *software_part_get_feature(software_part *part, const char *feature_n
 
 bool load_software_part(device_image_interface *image, const char *path, software_info **sw_info, software_part **sw_part, char **full_sw_name);
 
+void software_list_find_approx_matches(software_list *swlist, const char *name, int matches, software_info **list, const char* interface);
 
 /*********************************************************************