diff --git a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
index 6401e30e921cb4..83baeb571c0ed1 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
@@ -1542,11 +1542,6 @@ function reduceToSingleString(
   return `${braces[0]}${ln}${join(output, `,\n${indentation}  `)} ${braces[1]}`;
 }
 
-function format(...args) {
-  return formatWithOptions(undefined, ...args);
-}
-
-
 const firstErrorLine = (error) => error.message.split('\n')[0];
 let CIRCULAR_ERROR_MESSAGE;
 function tryStringify(arg) {
@@ -1569,7 +1564,19 @@ function tryStringify(arg) {
   }
 }
 
+function format(...args) {
+  return formatWithOptionsInternal(undefined, ...args);
+}
+
 function formatWithOptions(inspectOptions, ...args) {
+  if (typeof inspectOptions !== 'object' || inspectOptions === null) {
+    throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(
+      'inspectOptions', 'object', inspectOptions);
+  }
+  return formatWithOptionsInternal(inspectOptions, ...args);
+}
+
+function formatWithOptionsInternal(inspectOptions, ...args) {
   const first = args[0];
   let a = 0;
   let str = '';
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util-format.js b/test/parallel/test-util-format.js
index 810e9ac1146d97..2ef05284902995 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util-format.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util-format.js
@@ -408,3 +408,20 @@ assert.strictEqual(
   ),
   '[ 1, [Object] ]'
 );
+
+[
+  undefined,
+  null,
+  false,
+  5n,
+  5,
+  'test',
+  Symbol()
+].forEach((invalidOptions) => {
+  assert.throws(() => {
+    util.formatWithOptions(invalidOptions, { a: true });
+  }, {
+    code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE',
+    message: /"inspectOptions".+object/
+  });
+});