diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/kuberc/kuberc.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/kuberc/kuberc.go
index 03c6a2ef9b9..ecd02ee0f4f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/kuberc/kuberc.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/kuberc/kuberc.go
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ func (p *Preferences) applyAliases(rootCmd *cobra.Command, kuberc *config.Prefer
 	var commandName string // first "non-flag" arguments
 	var commandIndex int
 	for index, arg := range args[1:] {
-		if !strings.HasPrefix(arg, "-") {
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(arg, "-") && !strings.HasPrefix(arg, cobra.ShellCompRequestCmd) {
 			commandName = arg
 			commandIndex = index + 1
 			break