diff --git a/pandas/io/excel.py b/pandas/io/excel.py
index a7e0e48de0a75..3ce8953a6edb2 100644
--- a/pandas/io/excel.py
+++ b/pandas/io/excel.py
@@ -175,12 +175,16 @@
     convert integral floats to int (i.e., 1.0 --> 1). If False, all numeric
     data will be read in as floats: Excel stores all numbers as floats
     internally
+mangle_dupe_cols : boolean, default True
+    Duplicate columns will be specified as 'X', 'X.1', ...'X.N', rather than
+    'X'...'X'. Passing in False will cause data to be overwritten if there
+    are duplicate names in the columns.
 
 Returns
 -------
 parsed : DataFrame or Dict of DataFrames
-    DataFrame from the passed in Excel file.  See notes in sheet_name
-    argument for more information on when a Dict of Dataframes is returned.
+    DataFrame from the passed in Excel file. See notes in sheet_name
+    argument for more information on when a dict of DataFrames is returned.
 
 Examples
 --------
@@ -314,6 +318,7 @@ def read_excel(io,
                comment=None,
                skipfooter=0,
                convert_float=True,
+               mangle_dupe_cols=True,
                **kwds):
 
     # Can't use _deprecate_kwarg since sheetname=None has a special meaning
@@ -349,6 +354,7 @@ def read_excel(io,
         comment=comment,
         skipfooter=skipfooter,
         convert_float=convert_float,
+        mangle_dupe_cols=mangle_dupe_cols,
         **kwds)
 
 
@@ -441,6 +447,7 @@ def parse(self,
               comment=None,
               skipfooter=0,
               convert_float=True,
+              mangle_dupe_cols=True,
               **kwds):
         """
         Parse specified sheet(s) into a DataFrame
@@ -476,6 +483,7 @@ def parse(self,
                                  comment=comment,
                                  skipfooter=skipfooter,
                                  convert_float=convert_float,
+                                 mangle_dupe_cols=mangle_dupe_cols,
                                  **kwds)
 
     def _parse_excel(self,
@@ -498,6 +506,7 @@ def _parse_excel(self,
                      comment=None,
                      skipfooter=0,
                      convert_float=True,
+                     mangle_dupe_cols=True,
                      **kwds):
 
         _validate_header_arg(header)
@@ -667,6 +676,7 @@ def _parse_cell(cell_contents, cell_typ):
                                     comment=comment,
                                     skipfooter=skipfooter,
                                     usecols=usecols,
+                                    mangle_dupe_cols=mangle_dupe_cols,
                                     **kwds)
 
                 output[asheetname] = parser.read(nrows=nrows)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
index c79affaff3c1f..a097e0adbeb7a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
@@ -1846,33 +1846,41 @@ def roundtrip(data, header=True, parser_hdr=0, index=True):
 
     def test_duplicated_columns(self, *_):
         # see gh-5235
-        write_frame = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]])
-        col_names = ["A", "B", "B"]
-
-        write_frame.columns = col_names
-        write_frame.to_excel(self.path, "test1")
+        df = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]],
+                       columns=["A", "B", "B"])
+        df.to_excel(self.path, "test1")
+        expected = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]],
+                             columns=["A", "B", "B.1"])
 
-        read_frame = read_excel(self.path, "test1", index_col=0)
-        read_frame.columns = col_names
+        # By default, we mangle.
+        result = read_excel(self.path, "test1", index_col=0)
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
-        tm.assert_frame_equal(write_frame, read_frame)
+        # Explicitly, we pass in the parameter.
+        result = read_excel(self.path, "test1", index_col=0,
+                            mangle_dupe_cols=True)
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
         # see gh-11007, gh-10970
-        write_frame = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8]],
-                                columns=["A", "B", "A", "B"])
-        write_frame.to_excel(self.path, "test1")
-
-        read_frame = read_excel(self.path, "test1", index_col=0)
-        read_frame.columns = ["A", "B", "A", "B"]
+        df = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8]],
+                       columns=["A", "B", "A", "B"])
+        df.to_excel(self.path, "test1")
 
-        tm.assert_frame_equal(write_frame, read_frame)
+        result = read_excel(self.path, "test1", index_col=0)
+        expected = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8]],
+                             columns=["A", "B", "A.1", "B.1"])
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
         # see gh-10982
-        write_frame.to_excel(self.path, "test1", index=False, header=False)
-        read_frame = read_excel(self.path, "test1", header=None)
+        df.to_excel(self.path, "test1", index=False, header=False)
+        result = read_excel(self.path, "test1", header=None)
 
-        write_frame.columns = [0, 1, 2, 3]
-        tm.assert_frame_equal(write_frame, read_frame)
+        expected = DataFrame([[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8]])
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+
+        msg = "Setting mangle_dupe_cols=False is not supported yet"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
+            read_excel(self.path, "test1", header=None, mangle_dupe_cols=False)
 
     def test_swapped_columns(self, merge_cells, engine, ext):
         # Test for issue #5427.