diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_worker_state_machine.py b/distributed/tests/test_worker_state_machine.py
index 1252b302525..667032f6e50 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_worker_state_machine.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_worker_state_machine.py
@@ -57,6 +57,17 @@ def test_TaskState_get_nbytes():
     assert TaskState("y").get_nbytes() == 1024
 
 
+def test_TaskState_eq():
+    """Test that TaskState objects are hashable and that two identical objects compare
+    as different. See comment in TaskState.__hash__ for why.
+    """
+    a = TaskState("x")
+    b = TaskState("x")
+    assert a != b
+    s = {a, b}
+    assert len(s) == 2
+
+
 def test_TaskState__to_dict():
     """Tasks that are listed as dependencies or dependents of other tasks are dumped as
     a short repr and always appear in full directly under Worker.state.tasks.
diff --git a/distributed/worker_state_machine.py b/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
index b740b42e28d..7dd3431ef14 100644
--- a/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
+++ b/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 from copy import copy
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from functools import lru_cache
+from itertools import chain
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, ClassVar, Literal, NamedTuple, TypedDict, cast
 
 from tlz import peekn, pluck
@@ -274,15 +275,22 @@ def __post_init__(self) -> None:
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         return f"<TaskState {self.key!r} {self.state}>"
 
-    def __eq__(self, other: object) -> bool:
-        # A task may be forgotten and a new TaskState object with the same key may be
-        # created in its place later on. In the Worker state, you should never have
-        # multiple TaskState objects with the same key. We can't assert it here however,
-        # as this comparison is also used in WeakSets for instance tracking purposes.
-        return other is self
-
     def __hash__(self) -> int:
-        return hash(self.key)
+        """Override dataclass __hash__, reverting to the default behaviour
+        hash(o) == id(o).
+
+        Note that we also defined @dataclass(eq=False), which reverts to the default
+        behaviour (a == b) == (a is b).
+
+        On first thought, it would make sense to use TaskState.key for equality and
+        hashing. However, a task may be forgotten and a new TaskState object with the
+        same key may be created in its place later on. In the Worker state, you should
+        never have multiple TaskState objects with the same key; see
+        WorkerState.validate_state for relevant checks. We can't assert the same thing
+        in __eq__ though, as multiple objects with the same key may appear in
+        TaskState._instances for a brief period of time.
+        """
+        return id(self)
 
     def get_nbytes(self) -> int:
         nbytes = self.nbytes
@@ -3015,14 +3023,23 @@ def validate_state(self) -> None:
 
         for ts in self.data_needed:
             assert ts.state == "fetch", self.story(ts)
-            assert self.tasks[ts.key] is ts
         for worker, tss in self.data_needed_per_worker.items():
             for ts in tss:
                 assert ts.state == "fetch"
-                assert self.tasks[ts.key] is ts
                 assert ts in self.data_needed
                 assert worker in ts.who_has
 
+        # Test that there aren't multiple TaskState objects with the same key in any
+        # Set[TaskState]. See note in TaskState.__hash__.
+        for ts in chain(
+            self.data_needed,
+            *self.data_needed_per_worker.values(),
+            self.missing_dep_flight,
+            self.in_flight_tasks,
+            self.executing,
+        ):
+            assert self.tasks[ts.key] is ts
+
         for ts in self.tasks.values():
             self.validate_task(ts)