diff --git a/compiler/rustc_expand/src/mbe/macro_rules.rs b/compiler/rustc_expand/src/mbe/macro_rules.rs
index f40c365cbcc..d2fae17a43b 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_expand/src/mbe/macro_rules.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_expand/src/mbe/macro_rules.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 use rustc_ast_pretty::pprust;
 use rustc_attr::{self as attr, TransparencyError};
 use rustc_data_structures::fx::FxHashMap;
-use rustc_errors::{Applicability, Diagnostic, DiagnosticBuilder};
+use rustc_errors::{Applicability, Diagnostic, DiagnosticBuilder, ErrorGuaranteed};
 use rustc_feature::Features;
 use rustc_lint_defs::builtin::{
     RUST_2021_INCOMPATIBLE_OR_PATTERNS, SEMICOLON_IN_EXPRESSIONS_FROM_MACROS,
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 use rustc_session::Session;
 use rustc_span::edition::Edition;
 use rustc_span::hygiene::Transparency;
+use rustc_span::source_map::SourceMap;
 use rustc_span::symbol::{kw, sym, Ident, MacroRulesNormalizedIdent};
 use rustc_span::Span;
 
@@ -345,7 +346,7 @@ fn expand_macro<'cx>(
     if !def_span.is_dummy() && !cx.source_map().is_imported(def_span) {
         err.span_label(cx.source_map().guess_head_span(def_span), "when calling this macro");
     }
-
+    annotate_doc_comment(&mut err, sess.source_map(), span);
     // Check whether there's a missing comma in this macro call, like `println!("{}" a);`
     if let Some((arg, comma_span)) = arg.add_comma() {
         for lhs in lhses {
@@ -453,7 +454,10 @@ pub fn compile_declarative_macro(
         Failure(token, msg) => {
             let s = parse_failure_msg(&token);
             let sp = token.span.substitute_dummy(def.span);
-            sess.parse_sess.span_diagnostic.struct_span_err(sp, &s).span_label(sp, msg).emit();
+            let mut err = sess.parse_sess.span_diagnostic.struct_span_err(sp, &s);
+            err.span_label(sp, msg);
+            annotate_doc_comment(&mut err, sess.source_map(), sp);
+            err.emit();
             return dummy_syn_ext();
         }
         Error(sp, msg) => {
@@ -590,6 +594,20 @@ pub fn compile_declarative_macro(
     (mk_syn_ext(expander), rule_spans)
 }
 
+fn annotate_doc_comment(
+    err: &mut DiagnosticBuilder<'_, ErrorGuaranteed>,
+    sm: &SourceMap,
+    span: Span,
+) {
+    if let Ok(src) = sm.span_to_snippet(span) {
+        if src.starts_with("///") || src.starts_with("/**") {
+            err.span_label(span, "outer doc comments expand to `#[doc = \"...\"]`, which is what this macro attempted to match");
+        } else if src.starts_with("//!") || src.starts_with("/*!") {
+            err.span_label(span, "inner doc comments expand to `#![doc = \"...\"]`, which is what this macro attempted to match");
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 fn check_lhs_nt_follows(sess: &ParseSess, def: &ast::Item, lhs: &mbe::TokenTree) -> bool {
     // lhs is going to be like TokenTree::Delimited(...), where the
     // entire lhs is those tts. Or, it can be a "bare sequence", not wrapped in parens.
diff --git a/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-1.stderr b/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-1.stderr
index 96bdb9808ee..0ebf3d52b63 100644
--- a/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-1.stderr
+++ b/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-1.stderr
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@ LL | macro_rules! outer {
    | ------------------ when calling this macro
 ...
 LL |     //! Inner
-   |     ^^^^^^^^^ no rules expected this token in macro call
+   |     ^^^^^^^^^
+   |     |
+   |     no rules expected this token in macro call
+   |     inner doc comments expand to `#![doc = "..."]`, which is what this macro attempted to match
 
 error: aborting due to previous error
 
diff --git a/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-2.stderr b/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-2.stderr
index 023d1a3e039..346d865868d 100644
--- a/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-2.stderr
+++ b/src/test/ui/parser/macro/macro-doc-comments-2.stderr
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@ LL | macro_rules! inner {
    | ------------------ when calling this macro
 ...
 LL |     /// Outer
-   |     ^^^^^^^^^ no rules expected this token in macro call
+   |     ^^^^^^^^^
+   |     |
+   |     no rules expected this token in macro call
+   |     outer doc comments expand to `#[doc = "..."]`, which is what this macro attempted to match
 
 error: aborting due to previous error