diff --git a/src/problems/initializationproblem.jl b/src/problems/initializationproblem.jl
index b379215e39..6960811bbd 100644
--- a/src/problems/initializationproblem.jl
+++ b/src/problems/initializationproblem.jl
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ All other keyword arguments are forwarded to the wrapped nonlinear problem const
     # TODO: throw on uninitialized arrays
     filter!(x -> !(x isa Symbolics.Arr), uninit)
     if time_dependent_init && !isempty(uninit)
-        allow_incomplete || throw(IncompleteInitializationError(uninit))
+        allow_incomplete || throw(IncompleteInitializationError(uninit, sys))
         # for incomplete initialization, we will add the missing variables as parameters.
         # they will be updated by `update_initializeprob!` and `initializeprobmap` will
         # use them to construct the new `u0`.
@@ -146,9 +146,10 @@ const INCOMPLETE_INITIALIZATION_MESSAGE = """
 
 struct IncompleteInitializationError <: Exception
     uninit::Any
+    sys::Any
 end
 
 function Base.showerror(io::IO, e::IncompleteInitializationError)
     println(io, INCOMPLETE_INITIALIZATION_MESSAGE)
-    println(io, e.uninit)
+    println(io, underscore_to_D(e.uninit, e.sys))
 end
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index 11c6436bf3..0da7e4860b 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -1143,3 +1143,45 @@ function Base.showerror(io::IO, ::NotPossibleError)
     This should not be possible. Please open an issue in ModelingToolkit.jl with an MWE.
     """)
 end
+
+"""
+    $(TYPEDSIGNATURES)
+
+Given a vector of variables in the system, return the corresponding `Differential` form of variable if possible.
+Else returns the variable as-is.
+"""
+function underscore_to_D(v::AbstractVector, sys)
+    maps = isscheduled(sys) ? get_schedule(sys).dummy_sub : Dict()
+    inv_maps = Dict{valtype(maps), Vector{Base.keytype(maps)}}()
+
+    for (k, v) in maps
+        push!(get!(() -> valtype(inv_maps)[], inv_maps, v), k)
+    end
+    iv = get_iv(sys)
+    map(x -> underscore_to_D(x, iv, inv_maps), v)
+end
+
+function underscore_to_D(v, iv, inv_map)
+    if haskey(inv_map, v)
+        only(get(inv_map, v, [v]))
+    else
+        v = ModelingToolkit.detime_dvs(v)
+        s = split(string(getname(v)), 'ˍ')
+        if length(s) > 1
+            n, suffix = s
+        else
+            n, suffix = first(s), ""
+        end
+        repeats = length(suffix) ÷ length(string(iv))
+        D = Differential(iv)
+        wrap_with_D(v, D, repeats)
+    end
+end
+
+function wrap_with_D(n, D, repeats)
+    if repeats <= 0
+        return n
+    else
+        wrap_with_D(D(n), D, repeats - 1)
+    end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/initializationsystem.jl b/test/initializationsystem.jl
index bff2c720cf..3288fc22a2 100644
--- a/test/initializationsystem.jl
+++ b/test/initializationsystem.jl
@@ -362,6 +362,11 @@ tspan = (0.0, 100.0)
 @test_throws ModelingToolkit.IncompleteInitializationError prob=ODEProblem(
     sys, [u0; p], tspan, jac = true)
 
+u0 = [y => 0.0,
+    z => 0.0]
+@test_throws "Differential(t)(x(t))" prob=ODEProblem(
+    sys, [u0; p], tspan, jac = true)
+
 # DAE Initialization on ODE with nonlinear system for initial conditions
 # https://github.com/SciML/ModelingToolkit.jl/issues/2508