diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils.py b/lib/ansible/utils.py
index 30390cc90f..3cbf0d42f2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils.py
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ def varReplaceWithItems(basedir, varname, vars):
             d[k] = varReplaceWithItems(basedir, v, vars)
         return d
     else:
-        raise Exception("invalid with_items type")
+        return varname
 
 
 def template(basedir, text, vars):
diff --git a/test/TestUtils.py b/test/TestUtils.py
index da9faa11f3..fe2a086d89 100644
--- a/test/TestUtils.py
+++ b/test/TestUtils.py
@@ -249,6 +249,45 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
 
         assert res == u'hello world'
 
+    #####################################
+    ### varReplaceWithItems function tests
+
+    def test_varReplaceWithItems_basic(self):
+        vars = {
+            'data': {
+                'var': [
+                    'foo',
+                    'bar',
+                    'baz',
+                ],
+                'types': [
+                    'str',
+                    u'unicode',
+                    1,
+                    1L,
+                    1.2,
+                ],
+                'alphas': '$alphas',
+            },
+            'alphas': [
+                'abc',
+                'def',
+                'ghi',
+            ],
+        }
+
+        template = '${data.var}'
+        res = ansible.utils.varReplaceWithItems(None, template, vars)
+        assert sorted(res) == sorted(vars['data']['var'])
+
+        template = '${data.types}'
+        res = ansible.utils.varReplaceWithItems(None, template, vars)
+        assert sorted(res) == sorted(vars['data']['types'])
+
+        template = '${data.alphas}'
+        res = ansible.utils.varReplaceWithItems(None, template, vars)
+        assert sorted(res) == sorted(vars['alphas'])
+
     #####################################
     ### Template function tests