diff --git a/src/uu/mktemp/src/mktemp.rs b/src/uu/mktemp/src/mktemp.rs
index ae44225c9..00f23c50a 100644
--- a/src/uu/mktemp/src/mktemp.rs
+++ b/src/uu/mktemp/src/mktemp.rs
@@ -236,8 +236,13 @@ impl Params {
         let (i, j) = match find_last_contiguous_block_of_xs(&options.template) {
             None => {
                 let s = match options.suffix {
+                    // If a suffix is specified, the error message includes the template without the suffix.
+                    Some(_) => options
+                        .template
+                        .chars()
+                        .take(options.template.len())
+                        .collect::<String>(),
                     None => options.template,
-                    Some(s) => format!("{}{}", options.template, s),
                 };
                 return Err(MkTempError::TooFewXs(s));
             }
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_mktemp.rs b/tests/by-util/test_mktemp.rs
index 611a42e43..8a919948c 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_mktemp.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_mktemp.rs
@@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ fn test_too_few_xs_suffix() {
     new_ucmd!()
         .args(&["--suffix=X", "aXX"])
         .fails()
-        .stderr_only("mktemp: too few X's in template 'aXXX'\n");
+        .stderr_only("mktemp: too few X's in template 'aXX'\n");
 }
 
 #[test]
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ fn test_too_few_xs_suffix_directory() {
     new_ucmd!()
         .args(&["-d", "--suffix=X", "aXX"])
         .fails()
-        .stderr_only("mktemp: too few X's in template 'aXXX'\n");
+        .stderr_only("mktemp: too few X's in template 'aXX'\n");
 }
 
 #[test]