diff --git a/docs/changelog/238.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/238.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4814788
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/238.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Reject generic Python executables when a requested implementation is unavailable.
diff --git a/src/python_discovery/_discovery.py b/src/python_discovery/_discovery.py
index 3a51d78..07d8684 100644
--- a/src/python_discovery/_discovery.py
+++ b/src/python_discovery/_discovery.py
@@ -501,8 +501,8 @@ def path_exes(path: Path) -> Generator[tuple[Path, bool], None, None]:
             yield direct_path, impl_must_match
 
         for exe in path.iterdir():
-            if pat.fullmatch(exe.name):
-                yield exe.absolute(), impl_must_match
+            if match := pat.fullmatch(exe.name):
+                yield exe.absolute(), impl_must_match or match["impl"].lower() == "python"
 
     return path_exes
 
diff --git a/tests/test_discovery.py b/tests/test_discovery.py
index 4ef500b..d498fa9 100644
--- a/tests/test_discovery.py
+++ b/tests/test_discovery.py
@@ -74,6 +74,13 @@ def test_discovery_via_path_not_found(tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.Monkey
     assert interpreter is None
 
 
+def test_unknown_implementation_rejects_python_on_path(tmp_path: Path, session_cache: DiskCache) -> None:
+    env = {"PATH": str(Path(sys.executable).parent), "UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR": str(tmp_path / "missing")}
+
+    assert get_interpreter("missing", [], cache=session_cache, env=env) is None
+    assert list(iter_interpreters("missing", cache=session_cache, env=env)) == []
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32", reason="POSIX symlink names")
 def test_discovery_via_path_literal_symlink(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     link = tmp_path / "python_custom"