diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 627045e2f2f4..85e695a35008 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 ### Improvements
 
+* [#13896](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/13896) Queries on pruned height returns error instead of empty values.
 * (deps) Bump Tendermint version to [v0.34.23](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/releases/tag/v0.34.23).
 * (deps) Bump IAVL version to [v0.19.4](https://github.com/cosmos/iavl/releases/tag/v0.19.4).
 
diff --git a/baseapp/baseapp_test.go b/baseapp/baseapp_test.go
index f9cdfcb71438..d7b8c4b7fbd3 100644
--- a/baseapp/baseapp_test.go
+++ b/baseapp/baseapp_test.go
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ func TestLoadVersionPruning(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, v := range []int64{1, 2, 4} {
 		_, err = app.cms.CacheMultiStoreWithVersion(v)
-		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Error(t, err)
 	}
 
 	for _, v := range []int64{3, 5, 6, 7} {
diff --git a/store/iavl/store.go b/store/iavl/store.go
index a44cc1d531b3..5429f853d948 100644
--- a/store/iavl/store.go
+++ b/store/iavl/store.go
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ func UnsafeNewStore(tree *iavl.MutableTree) *Store {
 // Any mutable operations executed will result in a panic.
 func (st *Store) GetImmutable(version int64) (*Store, error) {
 	if !st.VersionExists(version) {
-		return &Store{tree: &immutableTree{&iavl.ImmutableTree{}}}, nil
+		return &Store{tree: &immutableTree{&iavl.ImmutableTree{}}}, fmt.Errorf("version mismatch on immutable IAVL tree; version does not exist. Version has either been pruned, or is for a future block height")
 	}
 
 	iTree, err := st.tree.GetImmutable(version)
diff --git a/store/iavl/store_test.go b/store/iavl/store_test.go
index f1cd586e36a0..5c120f290194 100644
--- a/store/iavl/store_test.go
+++ b/store/iavl/store_test.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func TestGetImmutable(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Nil(t, err)
 
 	_, err = store.GetImmutable(cID.Version + 1)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Error(t, err)
 
 	newStore, err := store.GetImmutable(cID.Version - 1)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
diff --git a/store/rootmulti/store_test.go b/store/rootmulti/store_test.go
index fd706dd3c987..3bb006019764 100644
--- a/store/rootmulti/store_test.go
+++ b/store/rootmulti/store_test.go
@@ -85,9 +85,9 @@ func TestCacheMultiStoreWithVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	cID := ms.Commit()
 	require.Equal(t, int64(1), cID.Version)
 
-	// require no failure when given an invalid or pruned version
+	// require error when given an invalid or pruned version
 	_, err = ms.CacheMultiStoreWithVersion(cID.Version + 1)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Error(t, err)
 
 	// require a valid version can be cache-loaded
 	cms, err := ms.CacheMultiStoreWithVersion(cID.Version)
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ func TestMultiStore_Pruning(t *testing.T) {
 		saved       []int64
 	}{
 		{"prune nothing", 10, types.PruneNothing, nil, []int64{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}},
-		{"prune everything", 10, types.PruneEverything, []int64{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}, []int64{10}},
+		{"prune everything", 10, types.PruneEverything, []int64{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, []int64{8, 9, 10}},
 		{"prune some; no batch", 10, types.NewPruningOptions(2, 3, 1), []int64{1, 2, 4, 5, 7}, []int64{3, 6, 8, 9, 10}},
 		{"prune some; small batch", 10, types.NewPruningOptions(2, 3, 3), []int64{1, 2, 4, 5}, []int64{3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}},
 		{"prune some; large batch", 10, types.NewPruningOptions(2, 3, 11), nil, []int64{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}},
@@ -519,12 +519,12 @@ func TestMultiStore_Pruning(t *testing.T) {
 
 			for _, v := range tc.saved {
 				_, err := ms.CacheMultiStoreWithVersion(v)
-				require.NoError(t, err, "expected error when loading height: %d", v)
+				require.NoError(t, err, "expected no error when loading height: %d", v)
 			}
 
 			for _, v := range tc.deleted {
 				_, err := ms.CacheMultiStoreWithVersion(v)
-				require.NoError(t, err, "expected error when loading height: %d", v)
+				require.Error(t, err, "expected error when loading height: %d", v)
 			}
 		})
 	}
@@ -560,7 +560,7 @@ func TestMultiStore_PruningRestart(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, v := range pruneHeights {
 		_, err := ms.CacheMultiStoreWithVersion(v)
-		require.NoError(t, err, "expected error when loading height: %d", v)
+		require.Error(t, err, "expected error when loading height: %d", v)
 	}
 }