diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/PartitioningUtils.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/PartitioningUtils.scala
index 2972c6142ce05..3c1741ff29547 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/PartitioningUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/PartitioningUtils.scala
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ private[sql] object PartitioningUtils {
     } else {
       // This dataset is partitioned. We need to check whether all partitions have the same
       // partition columns and resolve potential type conflicts.
-      val resolvedPartitionValues = resolvePartitions(pathsWithPartitionValues.map(_._2))
+      val resolvedPartitionValues = resolvePartitions(pathsWithPartitionValues)
 
       // Creates the StructType which represents the partition columns.
       val fields = {
@@ -181,24 +181,41 @@ private[sql] object PartitioningUtils {
    *   StringType
    * }}}
    */
-  private[sql] def resolvePartitions(values: Seq[PartitionValues]): Seq[PartitionValues] = {
-    // Column names of all partitions must match
-    val distinctPartitionsColNames = values.map(_.columnNames).distinct
-
-    if (distinctPartitionsColNames.isEmpty) {
+  private[sql] def resolvePartitions(
+      pathsWithPartitionValues: Seq[(Path, PartitionValues)]): Seq[PartitionValues] = {
+    if (pathsWithPartitionValues.isEmpty) {
       Seq.empty
     } else {
-      assert(distinctPartitionsColNames.size == 1, {
-        val list = distinctPartitionsColNames.map(_.mkString(", ")).zipWithIndex.map {
+      val distinctPartColNames = pathsWithPartitionValues.map(_._2.columnNames).distinct
+
+      def listConflictingPartitionColumns: String = {
+        def groupByKey[K, V](seq: Seq[(K, V)]): Map[K, Iterable[V]] =
+          seq.groupBy { case (key, _) => key }.mapValues(_.map { case (_, value) => value })
+
+        val partColNamesToPaths = groupByKey(pathsWithPartitionValues.map {
+          case (path, partValues) => partValues.columnNames -> path
+        })
+
+        val distinctPartColLists = distinctPartColNames.map(_.mkString(", ")).zipWithIndex.map {
           case (names, index) =>
-            s"\tPartition column name list #$index: $names"
+            s"Partition column name list #$index: $names"
         }
 
-        s"Conflicting partition column names detected:\n${list.mkString("\n")}\n" +
-          "For partitioned table directories, data files should only live in leaf directories."
-      })
+        // Lists out those non-leaf partition directories that also contain files
+        val suspiciousPaths =
+          distinctPartColNames.sortBy(_.length).init.flatMap(partColNamesToPaths)
+
+        s"Conflicting partition column names detected:\n" +
+          distinctPartColLists.mkString("\n\t", "\n\t", "\n\n") +
+          "For partitioned table directories, data files should only live in leaf directories. " +
+          "Please check the following directories for unexpected files:\n" +
+          suspiciousPaths.mkString("\n\t", "\n\t", "\n")
+      }
+
+      assert(distinctPartColNames.size == 1, listConflictingPartitionColumns)
 
       // Resolves possible type conflicts for each column
+      val values = pathsWithPartitionValues.map(_._2)
       val columnCount = values.head.columnNames.size
       val resolvedValues = (0 until columnCount).map { i =>
         resolveTypeConflicts(values.map(_.literals(i)))