diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index e83f3b54..d8297fff 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -137,7 +137,8 @@ class TreeNode {
         if (cas) {
           const prev = await this.getKeyNode(mid)
           if (cas && !(await cas(prev.final(encoding), node))) return true
-        } else if (!this.block.tree.tree.putSameValue) {
+        }
+        if (!this.block.tree.tree.alwaysDuplicate) {
           const prev = await this.getKeyNode(mid)
           if (prev && b4a.equals(prev.value, enc(encoding.value, node.value))) return true
         }
@@ -326,7 +327,7 @@ class Hyperbee extends ReadyResource {
     this.lock = opts.lock || mutexify()
     this.sep = opts.sep || SEP
     this.readonly = !!opts.readonly
-    this.putSameValue = opts.putSameValue !== false
+    this.alwaysDuplicate = opts.alwaysDuplicate !== false
     this.prefix = opts.prefix || null
 
     this._unprefixedKeyEncoding = this.keyEncoding
@@ -825,7 +826,8 @@ class Batch {
           if (cas) {
             const prev = await node.getKeyNode(mid)
             if (cas && !(await cas(prev.final(encoding), newNode))) return this._unlockMaybe()
-          } else if (!this.tree.putSameValue) {
+          }
+          if (!this.tree.alwaysDuplicate) {
             const prev = await node.getKeyNode(mid)
             if (prev && b4a.equals(prev.value, value)) return this._unlockMaybe()
           }
@@ -906,7 +908,14 @@ class Batch {
         c = b4a.compare(key, await node.getKey(mid))
 
         if (c === 0) {
-          if (cas && !(await cas((await node.getKeyNode(mid)).final(encoding), delNode))) return this._unlockMaybe()
+          if (cas) {
+            const prev = await node.getKeyNode(mid)
+            if (!(await cas(prev.final(encoding), delNode))) return this._unlockMaybe()
+          }
+          if (!this.tree.alwaysDuplicate) {
+            const prev = await node.getKeyNode(mid)
+            if (!prev) return this._unlockMaybe()
+          }
           if (node.children.length) await setKeyToNearestLeaf(node, mid, stack)
           else node.removeKey(mid)
           // we mark these as changed late, so we don't rewrite them if it is a 404
diff --git a/test/basic.js b/test/basic.js
index aff204d3..18d39974 100644
--- a/test/basic.js
+++ b/test/basic.js
@@ -539,40 +539,3 @@ test('get by seq', async function (t) {
   t.alike(await db.getBySeq(1), { key: '/a', value: '1' })
   t.alike(await db.getBySeq(2), { key: '/b', value: '2' })
 })
-
-test('putSameValue - should not insert the same kv-pair twice', async function (t) {
-  const db1 = create()
-  const db2 = create({ putSameValue: false })
-
-  await db1.put('/a', '1')
-  await db2.put('/a', '1')
-
-  const version = db1.version
-
-  await db1.put('/a', '1')
-  await db2.put('/a', '1')
-  await db1.put('/a', '1')
-  await db2.put('/a', '1')
-
-  t.is(db1.version, version + 2)
-  t.is(db2.version, version)
-})
-
-test('putSameValue - works on batch puts', async function (t) {
-  const db1 = create()
-  const db2 = create({ putSameValue: false })
-
-  const b1 = db1.batch()
-  const b2 = db2.batch()
-
-  await b1.put('/a', '1')
-  await b2.put('/a', '1')
-  await b1.put('/a', '1')
-  await b2.put('/a', '1')
-
-  await b1.flush()
-  await b2.flush()
-
-  t.is(db1.version, 3)
-  t.is(db2.version, 2)
-})
diff --git a/test/cas.js b/test/cas.js
index 777f9cb0..f8ff5a15 100644
--- a/test/cas.js
+++ b/test/cas.js
@@ -508,3 +508,40 @@ test('flushing an empty batch after a "failed" cas op releases lock (allows prog
     b.destroy()
   }
 })
+
+test('alwaysDuplicate - should not insert the same kv-pair twice', async function (t) {
+  const db1 = create()
+  const db2 = create({ alwaysDuplicate: false })
+
+  await db1.put('/a', '1')
+  await db2.put('/a', '1')
+
+  const version = db1.version
+
+  await db1.put('/a', '1')
+  await db2.put('/a', '1')
+  await db1.put('/a', '1')
+  await db2.put('/a', '1')
+
+  t.is(db1.version, version + 2)
+  t.is(db2.version, version)
+})
+
+test('alwaysDuplicate - works on batch puts', async function (t) {
+  const db1 = create()
+  const db2 = create({ alwaysDuplicate: false })
+
+  const b1 = db1.batch()
+  const b2 = db2.batch()
+
+  await b1.put('/a', '1')
+  await b2.put('/a', '1')
+  await b1.put('/a', '1')
+  await b2.put('/a', '1')
+
+  await b1.flush()
+  await b2.flush()
+
+  t.is(db1.version, 3)
+  t.is(db2.version, 2)
+})