hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · AnnotationException

Association '{}' is 'mappedBy' a property named '{}' which r

Error message

Association '{}' is 'mappedBy' a property named '{}' which references the wrong entity type '{}', expected '{}'

What it means

Error "Association '{}' is 'mappedBy' a property named '{}' which references the wrong entity type '{}', expected '{}'" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/BinderHelper.java:977

	private static void checkMappedByType(
			String mappedBy,
			String propertyName,
			PropertyHolder propertyHolder,
			Map<String, PersistentClass> persistentClasses,
			ToOne toOne) {
		final String referencedEntityName = toOne.getReferencedEntityName();
		final PersistentClass referencedClass = persistentClasses.get( referencedEntityName );
		PersistentClass ownerClass = propertyHolder.getPersistentClass();
		while ( ownerClass != null ) {
			if ( checkReferencedClass( ownerClass, referencedClass ) ) {
				// the two entities map to the same table, so we are good
				return;
			}
			ownerClass = ownerClass.getSuperPersistentClass();
		}
		// we could not find any entity mapping to the same table
		throw new AnnotationException(
				"Association '" + qualify( propertyHolder.getPath(), propertyName )
				+ "' is 'mappedBy' a property named '" + mappedBy
				+ "' which references the wrong entity type '" + referencedEntityName
				+ "', expected '" + propertyHolder.getEntityName() + "'"
		);
	}

	private static boolean checkReferencedClass(PersistentClass ownerClass, PersistentClass referencedClass) {
		while ( referencedClass != null ) {
			// Allow different entity types as long as they map to the same table
			if ( ownerClass.getTable() == referencedClass.getTable() ) {
				return true;
			}
			referencedClass = referencedClass.getSuperPersistentClass();
		}
		return false;
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Correct the mappedBy value to reference a property of the expected entity type.
2. Or fix the association target type so the mappedBy property belongs to it.

When it happens

Trigger: An association declares 'mappedBy' naming a property that does not exist, has the wrong type, or is not the owning side on the target entity.

Common situations: Bidirectional associations where mappedBy is misspelled, both sides claim ownership, or the target entity was refactored without updating the mapping.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c62c562f64968c61. Report an issue: GitHub.