diff --git a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/transform/Splicer.scala b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/transform/Splicer.scala
index 986fc6b6ca10..51f89b10e821 100644
--- a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/transform/Splicer.scala
+++ b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/transform/Splicer.scala
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ object Splicer {
       try classLoader.loadClass(name.toString)
       catch {
         case _: ClassNotFoundException =>
-          val msg = s"Could not find interpreted class $name in classpath"
+          val msg = s"Could not find macro class $name in classpath$extraMsg"
           throw new StopInterpretation(msg, pos)
       }
     }
@@ -149,17 +149,19 @@ object Splicer {
       try clazz.getMethod(name.toString, paramClasses: _*)
       catch {
         case _: NoSuchMethodException =>
-          val msg = s"Could not find interpreted method ${clazz.getCanonicalName}.$name with parameters $paramClasses"
+          val msg = s"Could not find inline macro method ${clazz.getCanonicalName}.$name with parameters $paramClasses$extraMsg"
           throw new StopInterpretation(msg, pos)
       }
     }
 
+    private def extraMsg = ". The most common reason for that is that you cannot use inline macro implementations in the same compilation run that defines them" 
+    
     private def stopIfRuntimeException[T](thunk: => T): T = {
       try thunk
       catch {
         case ex: RuntimeException =>
           val sw = new StringWriter()
-          sw.write("A runtime exception occurred while interpreting\n")
+          sw.write("A runtime exception occurred while executing macro expansion\n")
           sw.write(ex.getMessage)
           sw.write("\n")
           ex.printStackTrace(new PrintWriter(sw))