diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLFuncImpTable.java b/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLFuncImpTable.java
index a4f05dd675e..4dc766324e4 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLFuncImpTable.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLFuncImpTable.java
@@ -936,8 +936,66 @@ private static SqlTypeName promotedIntegerType(RexNode... args) {
       return needsLong ? SqlTypeName.BIGINT : SqlTypeName.INTEGER;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Matches {@code [ARRAY<T>, scalar]} where the scalar is comparable with the array's element
+     * type. Drives the multi-valued-field comparison overloads: equality on an ARRAY-typed field
+     * is CONTAINS (any element equals the value), mirroring Lucene's term-match semantics on
+     * multi-valued fields. The scalar side must not itself be an ARRAY — array-to-array equality
+     * stays unsupported rather than silently meaning overlap.
+     */
+    private static final PPLTypeChecker ARRAY_ELEMENT_COMPARABLE =
+        new PPLTypeChecker() {
+          @Override
+          public boolean checkOperandTypes(List<RelDataType> types) {
+            if (types.size() != 2) {
+              return false;
+            }
+            RelDataType arrayType = types.get(0);
+            RelDataType valueType = types.get(1);
+            if (arrayType.getSqlTypeName() != SqlTypeName.ARRAY
+                || valueType.getSqlTypeName() == SqlTypeName.ARRAY) {
+              return false;
+            }
+            RelDataType elementType = arrayType.getComponentType();
+            return elementType != null
+                && PPLTypeChecker.PPLComparableTypeChecker.isComparable(elementType, valueType);
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public String getAllowedSignatures() {
+            return "[ARRAY,ELEMENT_TYPE]";
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public List<List<RelDataType>> getParameterTypes() {
+            RelDataType anyType = TYPE_FACTORY.createSqlType(SqlTypeName.ANY);
+            return List.of(List.of(anyType, anyType));
+          }
+        };
+
     void populate() {
       // register operators for comparison
+      //
+      // Equality against a multi-valued (ARRAY-typed) field means CONTAINS, matching
+      // OpenSearch/Lucene semantics where a term query on a multi-valued field matches a
+      // document if ANY value equals the term (SortedSetDocValues / inverted-index behavior).
+      // Registered BEFORE the scalar overloads so an [ARRAY<T>, T] argument pair resolves here;
+      // scalar comparisons are untouched. array_contains uses element equality (not regex),
+      // exactly mirroring a Lucene term match.
+      register(
+          EQUAL,
+          (FunctionImp2)
+              (builder, array, value) ->
+                  builder.makeCall(SqlLibraryOperators.ARRAY_CONTAINS, array, value),
+          ARRAY_ELEMENT_COMPARABLE);
+      register(
+          NOTEQUAL,
+          (FunctionImp2)
+              (builder, array, value) ->
+                  builder.makeCall(
+                      SqlStdOperatorTable.NOT,
+                      builder.makeCall(SqlLibraryOperators.ARRAY_CONTAINS, array, value)),
+          ARRAY_ELEMENT_COMPARABLE);
       registerOperator(NOTEQUAL, PPLBuiltinOperators.NOT_EQUALS_IP, SqlStdOperatorTable.NOT_EQUALS);
       registerOperator(EQUAL, PPLBuiltinOperators.EQUALS_IP, SqlStdOperatorTable.EQUALS);
       registerOperator(GREATER, PPLBuiltinOperators.GREATER_IP, SqlStdOperatorTable.GREATER_THAN);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLTypeChecker.java b/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLTypeChecker.java
index 4925b35b649..1341c23e2ae 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLTypeChecker.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/PPLTypeChecker.java
@@ -275,11 +275,14 @@ public boolean checkOperandTypes(List<RelDataType> types) {
     /**
      * Modified from {@link SqlTypeUtil#isComparable(RelDataType, RelDataType)} to
      *
+     * <p>Package-private so the multi-valued-field comparison overloads in {@code
+     * PPLFuncImpTable} can reuse the same comparability rules for an array's element type.
+     *
      * @param type1 first type
      * @param type2 second type
      * @return true if the two types are comparable, false otherwise
      */
-    private static boolean isComparable(RelDataType type1, RelDataType type2) {
+    static boolean isComparable(RelDataType type1, RelDataType type2) {
       if (type1.isStruct() != type2.isStruct()) {
         return false;
       }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/ArrayEqualsResolutionTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/ArrayEqualsResolutionTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5f21fa7305c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/opensearch/sql/expression/function/ArrayEqualsResolutionTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+package org.opensearch.sql.expression.function;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+
+import org.apache.calcite.rel.type.RelDataType;
+import org.apache.calcite.rex.RexBuilder;
+import org.apache.calcite.rex.RexNode;
+import org.apache.calcite.sql.type.SqlTypeName;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.opensearch.sql.calcite.utils.OpenSearchTypeFactory;
+
+class ArrayEqualsResolutionTest {
+
+  @Test
+  void equalsOnArrayColumnResolvesToArrayContains() {
+    RexBuilder builder = new RexBuilder(OpenSearchTypeFactory.TYPE_FACTORY);
+    RelDataType varchar =
+        OpenSearchTypeFactory.TYPE_FACTORY.createSqlType(SqlTypeName.VARCHAR);
+    RelDataType arrayOfVarchar =
+        OpenSearchTypeFactory.TYPE_FACTORY.createTypeWithNullability(
+            OpenSearchTypeFactory.TYPE_FACTORY.createArrayType(varchar, -1), true);
+
+    RexNode arrayRef = builder.makeInputRef(arrayOfVarchar, 0);
+    RexNode literal = builder.makeLiteral("alpha");
+    System.out.println("array type = " + arrayRef.getType().getSqlTypeName());
+    System.out.println("literal type = " + literal.getType().getSqlTypeName());
+
+    RexNode resolved =
+        PPLFuncImpTable.INSTANCE.resolve(builder, BuiltinFunctionName.EQUAL, arrayRef, literal);
+    System.out.println("resolved = " + resolved);
+    assertEquals("ARRAY_CONTAINS", ((org.apache.calcite.rex.RexCall) resolved).getOperator().getName());
+  }
+}