diff --git a/easybuild/tools/options.py b/easybuild/tools/options.py
index b4b729ab0c..793e9e7704 100644
--- a/easybuild/tools/options.py
+++ b/easybuild/tools/options.py
@@ -96,6 +96,13 @@ class EasyBuildOptions(GeneralOption):
     ALLOPTSMANDATORY = False  # allow more than one argument
     CONFIGFILES_RAISE_MISSING = True  # don't allow non-existing config files to be specified
 
+    # don't allow passing of values that are look very similar to an existing option (due to a typo)
+    # require to use --longopt=value instead to remove ambiguity and unexpected behaviour due to small typos
+    ALLOW_OPTION_NAME_AS_VALUE = False  # exact match for option name (without the '-') as value
+    ALLOW_OPTION_AS_VALUE = False  # exact match for option as value
+    ALLOW_DASH_AS_VALUE = False  # any value starting with a '-'
+    ALLOW_TYPO_AS_VALUE = False  # value with similarity score from difflib.get_close_matches
+
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         """Constructor."""
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 13800b9f51..f5516753e1 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -107,5 +107,5 @@ def find_rel_test():
     provides=["eb"] + easybuild_packages,
     test_suite="test.framework.suite",
     zip_safe=False,
-    install_requires=["vsc-base >= 2.2.4"],
+    install_requires=["vsc-base >= 2.4.1"],
 )
diff --git a/test/framework/options.py b/test/framework/options.py
index 7f10003976..95847f0f47 100644
--- a/test/framework/options.py
+++ b/test/framework/options.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 from easybuild.tools.filetools import mkdir, read_file, write_file
 from easybuild.tools.github import fetch_github_token
 from easybuild.tools.modules import modules_tool
-from easybuild.tools.options import EasyBuildOptions
+from easybuild.tools.options import EasyBuildOptions, parse_options
 from easybuild.tools.toolchain.utilities import TC_CONST_PREFIX
 from easybuild.tools.version import VERSION
 from vsc.utils import fancylogger
@@ -1898,6 +1898,13 @@ def test_review_pr(self):
         self.mock_stdout(False)
         self.assertTrue(re.search(r"^Comparing zlib-1.2.8\S* with zlib-1.2.8", txt))
 
+    def test_allow_values_that_are_probably_meant_to_be_options(self):
+        """Test detecting typos or ambiguities on the eb command line."""
+        common_args = []
+
+        eb_go = parse_options(args=common_args + ['-r', 'f'])
+        self.assertFalse('f' in eb_go.options.robot)
+
 
 def suite():
     """ returns all the testcases in this module """