diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/TypeFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/TypeFieldMapper.java
index ffb548fd0f10f..71bd2e93d3039 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/TypeFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/TypeFieldMapper.java
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TermInSetQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TermQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLoggerFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.Lucene;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.Queries;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
@@ -90,6 +92,8 @@ public MetadataFieldMapper getDefault(MappedFieldType fieldType, ParserContext c
 
     static final class TypeFieldType extends StringFieldType {
 
+        private static final DeprecationLogger DEPRECATION_LOGGER = new DeprecationLogger(ESLoggerFactory.getLogger(TypeFieldType.class));
+
         TypeFieldType() {
         }
 
@@ -154,6 +158,29 @@ public Query termsQuery(List<?> values, QueryShardContext context) {
             }
         }
 
+        @Override
+        public Query rangeQuery(Object lowerTerm, Object upperTerm, boolean includeLower, boolean includeUpper, QueryShardContext context) {
+            DEPRECATION_LOGGER.deprecatedAndMaybeLog("range_single_type",
+                    "Running [range] query on [_type] field for an index with a single type. As types are deprecated, this functionality will be removed in future releases.");
+            Query result = new MatchAllDocsQuery();
+            String type = context.getMapperService().documentMapper().type();
+            if (type != null) {
+                BytesRef typeBytes = new BytesRef(type);
+                if (lowerTerm != null) {
+                    int comp = indexedValueForSearch(lowerTerm).compareTo(typeBytes);
+                    if (comp > 0 || (comp == 0 && includeLower == false)) {
+                        result = new MatchNoDocsQuery("[_type] was lexicographically smaller than lower bound of range");
+                    }
+                }
+                if (upperTerm != null) {
+                    int comp = indexedValueForSearch(upperTerm).compareTo(typeBytes);
+                    if (comp < 0 || (comp == 0 && includeUpper == false)) {
+                        result = new MatchNoDocsQuery("[_type] was lexicographically greater than upper bound of range");
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            return result;
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SearchQueryIT.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SearchQueryIT.java
index be71867edd2a0..1694f86c53eac 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SearchQueryIT.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SearchQueryIT.java
@@ -1822,4 +1822,40 @@ public void testRangeQueryRangeFields_24744() throws Exception {
         SearchResponse searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
         assertHitCount(searchResponse, 1);
     }
+
+    public void testRangeQueryTypeField_31476() throws Exception {
+        assertAcked(prepareCreate("test").addMapping("foo", "field", "type=keyword"));
+
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "foo", "1").setSource("field", "value").get();
+        refresh();
+
+        RangeQueryBuilder range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("ape").to("zebra");
+        SearchResponse searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 1);
+
+        range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("monkey").to("zebra");
+        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 0);
+
+        range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("ape").to("donkey");
+        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 0);
+
+        range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("ape").to("foo").includeUpper(false);
+        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 0);
+
+        range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("ape").to("foo").includeUpper(true);
+        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 1);
+
+        range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("foo").to("zebra").includeLower(false);
+        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 0);
+
+        range = new RangeQueryBuilder("_type").from("foo").to("zebra").includeLower(true);
+        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(range).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 1);
+    }
+
 }