diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 17a670d..4923a06 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ HtmlWebpackPlugin.prototype.apply = function(compiler) {
 
     var outputFilename = self.options.filename || 'index.html';
 
-    if (self.options.templateContent) {
+    if (self.options.templateContent && self.options.template) {
+      compiler.errors.push(new Error('HtmlWebpackPlugin: cannot specify both template and templateContent options'));
+      callback();
+    } else if (self.options.templateContent) {
       self.emitHtml(compiler, self.options.templateContent, templateParams, outputFilename);
       callback();
     } else {
diff --git a/spec/HtmlWebpackPluginSpec.js b/spec/HtmlWebpackPluginSpec.js
index 72619d8..e737806 100644
--- a/spec/HtmlWebpackPluginSpec.js
+++ b/spec/HtmlWebpackPluginSpec.js
@@ -83,6 +83,23 @@ describe('HtmlWebpackPlugin', function() {
     ['<script src="app_bundle.js"'], null, done);
   });
 
+  it('registers a webpack error both template and template content are specified', function(done) {
+    webpack({
+      entry: path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures/index.js'),
+      output: {
+        path: OUTPUT_DIR,
+        filename: 'index_bundle.js'
+      },
+      plugins: [new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
+        template: path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures/test.html'),
+        templateContent: 'whatever'
+      })]
+    }, function(err, stats) {
+      expect(stats.hasErrors()).toBe(true);
+      expect(stats.toJson().errors[0]).toContain('HtmlWebpackPlugin');
+      done();
+    });
+  });
 
   it('works with source maps', function(done) {
     testHtmlPlugin({