diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/BUILD b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/BUILD
index 267bccc4aa9..f64115e77ea 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/BUILD
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/BUILD
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ go_test(
         "helpers_test.go",
         "labels_test.go",
         "micro_time_test.go",
+        "options_test.go",
         "time_test.go",
         "types_test.go",
     ],
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ go_test(
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/serializer/json:go_default_library",
+        "//vendor/github.com/google/gofuzz:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/sigs.k8s.io/yaml:go_default_library",
     ],
 )
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/options_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/options_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3367a57f07a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/options_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package v1
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+
+	fuzz "github.com/google/gofuzz"
+)
+
+func TestPatchOptionsIsSuperSetOfUpdateOptions(t *testing.T) {
+	f := fuzz.New()
+	for i := 0; i < 1000; i++ {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("Run %d/1000", i), func(t *testing.T) {
+			update := UpdateOptions{}
+			f.Fuzz(&update)
+
+			b, err := json.Marshal(update)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("failed to marshal UpdateOptions (%v): %v", err, update)
+			}
+			patch := PatchOptions{}
+			err = json.Unmarshal(b, &patch)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("failed to unmarshal UpdateOptions into PatchOptions: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			b, err = json.Marshal(patch)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("failed to marshal PatchOptions (%v): %v", err, patch)
+			}
+			got := UpdateOptions{}
+			err = json.Unmarshal(b, &got)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("failed to unmarshal UpdateOptions into UpdateOptions: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(update, got) {
+				t.Fatalf(`UpdateOptions -> PatchOptions -> UpdateOptions round-trip failed:
+got: %v
+want: %v`, got, update)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/types.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/types.go
index 76c6a425c2e..e8d94c15435 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/types.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/types.go
@@ -508,6 +508,7 @@ type CreateOptions struct {
 // +k8s:deepcopy-gen:interfaces=k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime.Object
 
 // PatchOptions may be provided when patching an API object.
+// PatchOptions is meant to be a superset of UpdateOptions.
 type PatchOptions struct {
 	TypeMeta `json:",inline"`
 
@@ -529,6 +530,7 @@ type PatchOptions struct {
 // +k8s:deepcopy-gen:interfaces=k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime.Object
 
 // UpdateOptions may be provided when updating an API object.
+// All fields in UpdateOptions should also be present in PatchOptions.
 type UpdateOptions struct {
 	TypeMeta `json:",inline"`