diff --git a/specforge/modeling/target/target_utils.py b/specforge/modeling/target/target_utils.py
index 9dacba6be..50177f623 100644
--- a/specforge/modeling/target/target_utils.py
+++ b/specforge/modeling/target/target_utils.py
@@ -10,6 +10,26 @@
 from safetensors import safe_open
 from transformers import AutoConfig
 
+# Candidate weight keys tried in order when the supplied/default key is missing.
+# The caller's explicit key is prepended to this list, so defaults are only used
+# as fallbacks.
+CANDIDATE_EMBED_KEYS = [
+    "model.embed_tokens.weight",
+    "embed_tokens.weight",
+    "model.language_model.model.embed_tokens.weight",
+    "model.language_model.embed_tokens.weight",
+    "language_model.model.embed_tokens.weight",
+    "language_model.embed_tokens.weight",
+    "model.model.embed_tokens.weight",
+]
+
+CANDIDATE_HEAD_KEYS = [
+    "lm_head.weight",
+    "model.lm_head.weight",
+    "model.language_model.lm_head.weight",
+    "language_model.lm_head.weight",
+]
+
 
 class TargetEmbeddingsAndHead(nn.Module):
     """
@@ -86,11 +106,39 @@ def from_pretrained(
 
         return instance
 
+    def _resolve_embed_key(
+        self, embed_key: str, available_keys: set[str] | dict[str, str]
+    ) -> str:
+        """Return embed_key if present, otherwise the first matching candidate."""
+        for key in [embed_key] + CANDIDATE_EMBED_KEYS:
+            if key in available_keys:
+                if key != embed_key:
+                    print(f"Resolved embedding key '{embed_key}' -> '{key}'")
+                return key
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Embedding key '{embed_key}' not found and no candidate embed key matched. "
+            f"Available keys (first 20): {list(available_keys)[:20]}"
+        )
+
+    def _resolve_head_key(
+        self, lm_head_key: str, available_keys: set[str] | dict[str, str]
+    ) -> str | None:
+        """Return lm_head_key if present, otherwise the first matching candidate."""
+        for key in [lm_head_key] + CANDIDATE_HEAD_KEYS:
+            if key in available_keys:
+                if key != lm_head_key:
+                    print(f"Resolved lm_head key '{lm_head_key}' -> '{key}'")
+                return key
+        print(
+            f"Warning: {lm_head_key} not found and no candidate lm_head key matched. "
+            "Ensure model uses tied weights or pass the correct key."
+        )
+        return None
+
     def _load_weights(
         self, model_path: str, embed_key: str, lm_head_key: str, tie_weights: bool
     ):
         index_files = glob.glob(os.path.join(model_path, "*.index.json"))
-        weight_map = {}
         files_to_load = {}
 
         if index_files:
@@ -98,20 +146,14 @@ def _load_weights(
                 index = json.load(f)
             weight_map = index.get("weight_map", {})
 
-            if embed_key in weight_map:
-                files_to_load[embed_key] = weight_map[embed_key]
-            else:
-                raise ValueError(
-                    f"Embedding key '{embed_key}' not found in weight map."
-                )
+            embed_key = self._resolve_embed_key(embed_key, weight_map)
+            files_to_load[embed_key] = weight_map[embed_key]
 
             if not tie_weights:
-                if lm_head_key in weight_map:
-                    files_to_load[lm_head_key] = weight_map[lm_head_key]
-                else:
-                    print(
-                        f"Warning: {lm_head_key} not found. Ensure model doesn't use tied weights manually."
-                    )
+                resolved_head_key = self._resolve_head_key(lm_head_key, weight_map)
+                if resolved_head_key is not None:
+                    files_to_load[resolved_head_key] = weight_map[resolved_head_key]
+                    lm_head_key = resolved_head_key
         else:
             safetensors = glob.glob(os.path.join(model_path, "*.safetensors"))
             bins = glob.glob(os.path.join(model_path, "*.bin"))
@@ -120,9 +162,30 @@ def _load_weights(
             if not target_file:
                 raise FileNotFoundError("No checkpoint found.")
 
+            # Read the available keys so we can auto-detect embed/lm_head names
+            # in single-file checkpoints too.
+            if target_file.endswith(".safetensors"):
+                with safe_open(target_file, framework="pt") as f:
+                    available_keys = set(f.keys())
+            else:
+                # For .bin files we fall back to the provided keys; auto-detection
+                # would require loading the whole state dict up front.
+                available_keys = None
+
+            embed_key = self._resolve_embed_key(
+                embed_key,
+                available_keys if available_keys is not None else {embed_key},
+            )
             files_to_load[embed_key] = os.path.basename(target_file)
+
             if not tie_weights:
-                files_to_load[lm_head_key] = os.path.basename(target_file)
+                resolved_head_key = self._resolve_head_key(
+                    lm_head_key,
+                    available_keys if available_keys is not None else {lm_head_key},
+                )
+                if resolved_head_key is not None:
+                    files_to_load[resolved_head_key] = os.path.basename(target_file)
+                    lm_head_key = resolved_head_key
 
         loaded_keys = set()