diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 34df47f5e..70094f49a 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const {
 } = require("./lib/html-tags");
 const prettyError = require("./lib/errors.js");
 const chunkSorter = require("./lib/chunksorter.js");
+const validateChunkNames = require("./lib/validators");
 const { AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook } = require("tapable");
 
 /** @typedef {import("./typings").HtmlTagObject} HtmlTagObject */
@@ -1195,6 +1196,30 @@ class HtmlWebpackPlugin {
     return result;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @param {(string | null | undefined)[]} allChunkNames - all compilation chunk names
+   * @returns {Error[]} validation errors
+   */
+  validateOptions(allChunkNames) {
+    const validationErrors = [];
+    if (this.options.chunks !== "all") {
+      const chunksErrors = validateChunkNames(
+        allChunkNames,
+        this.options.chunks,
+        "chunks",
+      );
+      validationErrors.push(...chunksErrors);
+    }
+    const excludeChunksErrors = validateChunkNames(
+      allChunkNames,
+      this.options.excludeChunks,
+      "excludeChunks",
+    );
+    validationErrors.push(...excludeChunksErrors);
+
+    return validationErrors;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Replace [contenthash] in filename
    *
@@ -1261,6 +1286,16 @@ class HtmlWebpackPlugin {
   ) {
     // Get all entry point names for this html file
     const entryNames = Array.from(compilation.entrypoints.keys());
+
+    // Get all chunk names
+    const allChunkNames = Array.from(compilation.chunks).map((c) => c.name);
+
+    const validationErrors = this.validateOptions(allChunkNames);
+    if (validationErrors.length) {
+      // TODO throw error in the next major release
+      compilation.warnings.push(...validationErrors);
+    }
+
     const filteredEntryNames = this.filterEntryChunks(
       entryNames,
       this.options.chunks,
diff --git a/lib/validators.js b/lib/validators.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..51e9f014c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/validators.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/**
+ * Validates that all expected chunks are part of the compilation result
+ *
+ * @param {(string | null | undefined)[]} allChunkNames - all compilation chunk names
+ * @param {string[]} expectedChunkNames - expected chunk names
+ * @param {string} label
+ * @returns {Error[]} validation errors
+ */
+module.exports = function (allChunkNames, expectedChunkNames, label) {
+  if (!Array.isArray(expectedChunkNames)) {
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  const missingChunks = expectedChunkNames.filter(
+    (chunkName) => !allChunkNames.includes(chunkName),
+  );
+
+  return missingChunks.map((chunk) => {
+    return new Error(
+      `HtmlWebpackPlugin: The chunk '${chunk}' provided in the 'options.${label}' option was not found in the compilation results`,
+    );
+  });
+};
diff --git a/spec/basic.spec.js b/spec/basic.spec.js
index b9952df28..54ef8dd21 100644
--- a/spec/basic.spec.js
+++ b/spec/basic.spec.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ function testHtmlPlugin(
     }
     const compilationWarnings = (stats.compilation.warnings || []).join("\n");
     if (expectWarnings) {
-      expect(compilationWarnings).not.toBe("");
+      expect(compilationWarnings).toMatch(expectWarnings);
     } else {
       expect(compilationWarnings).toBe("");
     }
@@ -3048,6 +3048,62 @@ describe("HtmlWebpackPlugin", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("adds a warning if a specified chunk in the chunks option is not found", (done) => {
+    testHtmlPlugin(
+      {
+        mode: "production",
+        entry: {
+          app: path.join(__dirname, "fixtures/index.js"),
+        },
+        output: {
+          path: OUTPUT_DIR,
+          filename: "[name]_bundle.js",
+        },
+        optimization: {
+          emitOnErrors: true,
+        },
+        plugins: [
+          new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
+            chunks: ["app", "non_existent_chunk"],
+          }),
+        ],
+      },
+      [],
+      null,
+      done,
+      false,
+      /HtmlWebpackPlugin: The chunk 'non_existent_chunk' provided in the 'options.chunks' option was not found in the compilation results/,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("adds a warning if a specified chunk in the excludeChunks option is not found", (done) => {
+    testHtmlPlugin(
+      {
+        mode: "production",
+        entry: {
+          app: path.join(__dirname, "fixtures/index.js"),
+        },
+        output: {
+          path: OUTPUT_DIR,
+          filename: "[name]_bundle.js",
+        },
+        optimization: {
+          emitOnErrors: true,
+        },
+        plugins: [
+          new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
+            excludeChunks: ["non_existent_chunk"],
+          }),
+        ],
+      },
+      [],
+      null,
+      done,
+      false,
+      /HtmlWebpackPlugin: The chunk 'non_existent_chunk' provided in the 'options.excludeChunks' option was not found in the compilation results/,
+    );
+  });
+
   it("should add the webpack compilation object as a property of the templateParam object", (done) => {
     testHtmlPlugin(
       {