diff --git a/gopls/internal/golang/completion/completion.go b/gopls/internal/golang/completion/completion.go
index 36d382dfc78..f02f7e26f1d 100644
--- a/gopls/internal/golang/completion/completion.go
+++ b/gopls/internal/golang/completion/completion.go
@@ -2936,6 +2936,13 @@ func (ci *candidateInference) candTypeMatches(cand *candidate) bool {
 
 		for _, expType := range expTypes {
 			if isEmptyInterface(expType) {
+				// If any type matches the expected type, fall back to other
+				// considerations below.
+				//
+				// TODO(rfindley): can this be expressed via scoring, rather than a boolean?
+				// Why is it the case that we break ties for the empty interface, but
+				// not for other expected types that may be satisfied by a lot of
+				// types, such as fmt.Stringer?
 				continue
 			}
 
diff --git a/gopls/internal/golang/completion/util.go b/gopls/internal/golang/completion/util.go
index 1261d417080..ad4ee5e09fc 100644
--- a/gopls/internal/golang/completion/util.go
+++ b/gopls/internal/golang/completion/util.go
@@ -142,10 +142,17 @@ func isPkgName(obj types.Object) bool  { return is[*types.PkgName](obj) }
 // TODO(adonovan): shouldn't this use CoreType(T)?
 func isPointer(T types.Type) bool { return is[*types.Pointer](aliases.Unalias(T)) }
 
+// isEmptyInterface whether T is a (possibly Named or Alias) empty interface
+// type, such that every type is assignable to T.
+//
+// isEmptyInterface returns false for type parameters, since they have
+// different assignability rules.
 func isEmptyInterface(T types.Type) bool {
-	// TODO(adonovan): shouldn't this use Underlying?
-	intf, _ := T.(*types.Interface)
-	return intf != nil && intf.NumMethods() == 0 && intf.IsMethodSet()
+	if _, ok := T.(*types.TypeParam); ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	intf, _ := T.Underlying().(*types.Interface)
+	return intf != nil && intf.Empty()
 }
 
 func isUntyped(T types.Type) bool {