diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation.go
index 30c7264c824..78aaca3cf80 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation.go
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ func ValidateCustomResource(fldPath *field.Path, customResource interface{}, val
 				if i, ok := err.Value.(int64); ok {
 					max = i
 				}
-				allErrs = append(allErrs, field.TooMany(errPath, -1, int(max)))
+				allErrs = append(allErrs, field.TooMany(errPath, int(max), -1))
 
 			case openapierrors.TooManyPropertiesCode:
 				max := int64(-1)
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation_test.go
index 8cad7f88080..cc6ceaf0a41 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ func TestValidateCustomResource(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			failingObjects: []failingObject{
 				{object: map[string]interface{}{"fieldX": []interface{}{"a", "b", "c"}}, expectErrs: []string{
-					`fieldX: Too many: must have at most 3 items`,
+					`fieldX: Too many: 3: has too many items`,
 				}},
 			},
 		},