diff --git a/src/uu/chmod/locales/en-US.ftl b/src/uu/chmod/locales/en-US.ftl
index 2f3f6748461..0df78e83b01 100644
--- a/src/uu/chmod/locales/en-US.ftl
+++ b/src/uu/chmod/locales/en-US.ftl
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ chmod-error-permission-denied = cannot access {$file}: Permission denied
 chmod-error-new-permissions = {$file}: new permissions are {$actual}, not {$expected}
 chmod-error-changing-permissions = changing permissions of {$file}: {$err}
 chmod-error-missing-operand = missing operand
+chmod-error-invalid-mode = invalid mode: '{$mode}'
 
 # Help messages
 chmod-help-print-help = Print help information.
diff --git a/src/uu/chmod/locales/fr-FR.ftl b/src/uu/chmod/locales/fr-FR.ftl
index e8116f08f9c..aa7580607c9 100644
--- a/src/uu/chmod/locales/fr-FR.ftl
+++ b/src/uu/chmod/locales/fr-FR.ftl
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ chmod-error-permission-denied = impossible d'accéder à {$file} : Permission re
 chmod-error-new-permissions = {$file} : les nouvelles permissions sont {$actual}, pas {$expected}
 chmod-error-changing-permissions = changement des permissions de {$file} : {$err}
 chmod-error-missing-operand = opérande manquant
+chmod-error-invalid-mode = mode invalide : '{$mode}'
 
 # Messages verbeux/de statut
 chmod-verbose-failed-dangling = échec du changement de mode de {$file} de 0000 (---------) vers 1500 (r-x-----T)
diff --git a/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs b/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
index 6875ac66b84..f90631cb68a 100644
--- a/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
+++ b/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ use std::os::unix::fs::{MetadataExt, PermissionsExt};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use thiserror::Error;
 use uucore::display::Quotable;
-use uucore::error::{
-    ExitCode, UError, UResult, USimpleError, UUsageError, set_exit_code, strip_errno,
-};
+use uucore::error::{ExitCode, UError, UResult, UUsageError, set_exit_code, strip_errno};
 use uucore::fs::{FileInformation, display_permissions_unix};
 use uucore::mode;
 use uucore::perms::{TraverseSymlinks, configure_symlink_and_recursion};
@@ -349,15 +347,24 @@ impl Chmoder {
                         if self.quiet {
                             return Err(ExitCode::new(1));
                         }
+                        // GNU always names the whole mode operand, not the
+                        // clause that broke, and always with this one
+                        // message regardless of what specifically went
+                        // wrong -- the more specific `error` still supplies
+                        // the caret diagram's label when one is rendered.
+                        let message = translate!(
+                            "chmod-error-invalid-mode",
+                            "mode" => cmode_unwrapped.clone()
+                        );
                         if let Some(args) = &self.args
                             && let Some((index, operand, offset)) =
                                 self.locate_clause(args, &cmode_unwrapped, clause_start)
-                            && error.render_at(args, index, &operand, offset, &error.to_string())
+                            && error.render_at(args, index, &operand, offset, &message)
                         {
                             // The diagnostic is already on stderr; exit quietly.
                             return Err(ExitCode::new(1));
                         }
-                        return Err(USimpleError::new(1, error.to_string()));
+                        return Err(UUsageError::new(1, message));
                     }
                 }
             }
diff --git a/src/uucore/src/lib/features/mode.rs b/src/uucore/src/lib/features/mode.rs
index 8dfeccb4c94..3a17fd87937 100644
--- a/src/uucore/src/lib/features/mode.rs
+++ b/src/uucore/src/lib/features/mode.rs
@@ -131,19 +131,18 @@ impl ModeError {
     /// The caret label for this error, translated, and the advice that goes
     /// under it.
     ///
-    /// Labelled only where a label would add to the message, per the
-    /// convention in [`crate::diagnostics`].
+    /// The headline callers show is the same for every `ModeError` — GNU
+    /// itself only ever says "invalid mode: 'WHOLE_MODE'" — so the detail
+    /// that used to live there moves down to the label instead.
     fn describe(&self) -> (Option<String>, Option<String>) {
         let label = match self.kind {
-            // The message already names the expected operators.
-            ModeErrorKind::InvalidOperator => None,
-            ModeErrorKind::MissingOperator => Some("mode-diag-label-missing-operator"),
-            ModeErrorKind::InvalidNumber => Some("mode-diag-label-invalid-number"),
+            // `self.message` already names the operator that was expected
+            // and the one that was found instead.
+            ModeErrorKind::InvalidOperator => Some(self.message.clone()),
+            ModeErrorKind::MissingOperator => Some(translate!("mode-diag-label-missing-operator")),
+            ModeErrorKind::InvalidNumber => Some(translate!("mode-diag-label-invalid-number")),
         };
-        (
-            label.map(|label| translate!(label)),
-            Some(translate!("mode-diag-help-syntax")),
-        )
+        (label, Some(translate!("mode-diag-help-syntax")))
     }
 
     /// Where this error sits inside the whole mode, given where the clause it
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs b/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs
index ca13fdef473..30d7f47904f 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs
@@ -285,6 +285,26 @@ fn test_chmod_error_permissions() {
     );
 }
 
+/// GNU says the same thing, "invalid mode: 'WHOLE_MODE'", for every way a
+/// mode can be malformed -- a non-octal digit, a value too large, a missing
+/// operator, or an unrecognized one -- so uutils does too, rather than
+/// leaking the reason as a distinct message shaped like whatever failed to
+/// parse it internally (a raw `ParseIntError`, for one).
+#[test]
+fn test_invalid_mode_names_the_whole_operand() {
+    let scenario = TestScenario::new(util_name!());
+    let at = &scenario.fixtures;
+    at.touch("file");
+
+    for mode in ["999", "", "a", "u?rwx", "u+rwx,z+r", "12x"] {
+        scenario
+            .ucmd()
+            .args(&[mode, "file"])
+            .fails_with_code(1)
+            .usage_error(format!("invalid mode: '{mode}'"));
+    }
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_chmod_permissions_too_large() {
     let scenario = TestScenario::new(util_name!());
@@ -296,19 +316,13 @@ fn test_chmod_permissions_too_large() {
         .ucmd()
         .args(&["10777", "file"])
         .fails_with_code(1)
-        .stderr_is(
-            // spell-checker:disable-next-line
-            "chmod: mode is too large (10777 > 7777)\n",
-        );
+        .usage_error("invalid mode: '10777'");
     // test around the boundary of the acceptable octal mode
     scenario
         .ucmd()
         .args(&["10000", "file"])
         .fails_with_code(1)
-        .stderr_is(
-            // spell-checker:disable-next-line
-            "chmod: mode is too large (10000 > 7777)\n",
-        );
+        .usage_error("invalid mode: '10000'");
     at.mkdir("dir");
     scenario.ucmd().args(&["7777", "dir"]).succeeds();
 }
@@ -1820,7 +1834,7 @@ mod diagnostics {
         // The test harness pipes stderr, so the report must not appear.
         ucmd.args(&["g+rw?x", "probe"])
             .fails_with_code(1)
-            .stderr_only("chmod: invalid operator (expected +, -, or =, but found ?)\n");
+            .usage_error("invalid mode: 'g+rw?x'");
     }
 
     #[cfg(unix)]