diff --git a/docs/changelog/3099.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/3099.bugfix.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index abb1b7839c..0000000000
--- a/docs/changelog/3099.bugfix.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix regression introduced in ``4.9.0`` affecting hyphenated and combined environments.
diff --git a/docs/changelog/3099.feature.rst b/docs/changelog/3099.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..26aa62a040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/3099.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Change accepted environment name rule: must be made up of factors defined in configuration or match regex
+``(pypy|py|cython|)((\d(\.\d+(\.\d+)?)?)|\d+)?``. If an environment name does not match this fail, and if a close match
+found suggest that to the user.
diff --git a/src/tox/session/env_select.py b/src/tox/session/env_select.py
index 3f7e9789ad..fbb5d0a37d 100644
--- a/src/tox/session/env_select.py
+++ b/src/tox/session/env_select.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 import re
 from collections import Counter
 from dataclasses import dataclass
-from itertools import chain, permutations
+from difflib import get_close_matches
+from itertools import chain
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Dict, Iterable, Iterator, List, cast
 
 from tox.config.loader.str_convert import StrConvert
@@ -117,6 +118,9 @@ class _ToxEnvInfo:
     package_skip: tuple[str, Skip] | None = None  #: if set the creation of the packaging environment failed
 
 
+_DYNAMIC_ENV_FACTORS = re.compile(r"(pypy|py|cython|)((\d(\.\d+(\.\d+)?)?)|\d+)?")
+
+
 class EnvSelector:
     def __init__(self, state: State) -> None:
         # needs core to load the default tox environment list
@@ -152,23 +156,46 @@ def _collect_names(self) -> Iterator[tuple[Iterable[str], bool]]:
         elif self._cli_envs.is_all:
             everything_active = True
         else:
-            cli_envs_not_in_config = set(self._cli_envs) - set(self._state.conf)
-            if cli_envs_not_in_config:
-                # allow cli_envs matching ".pkg" and starting with "py" to be implicitly created.
-                disallowed_cli_envs = [env for env in cli_envs_not_in_config if not _is_valid_exception(env)]
-
-                # allow disallowed cli envs that match hyphenated combinations
-                has_match = any(_find_env_match(cli_env, set(self._state.conf)) for cli_env in disallowed_cli_envs)
-
-                if disallowed_cli_envs and not has_match:
-                    msg = f"provided environments not found in configuration file: {disallowed_cli_envs}"
-                    raise HandledError(msg)
+            self._ensure_envs_valid()
             yield self._cli_envs, True
         yield self._state.conf, everything_active
         label_envs = dict.fromkeys(chain.from_iterable(self._state.conf.core["labels"].values()))
         if label_envs:
             yield label_envs.keys(), False
 
+    def _ensure_envs_valid(self) -> None:
+        valid_factors = set(chain.from_iterable(env.split("-") for env in self._state.conf))
+        valid_factors.add(".pkg")  # packaging factor
+        invalid_envs: dict[str, str | None] = {}
+        for env in self._cli_envs or []:
+            if env.startswith(".pkg_external"):  # external package
+                continue
+            factors: dict[str, str | None] = {k: None for k in env.split("-")}
+            found_factors: set[str] = set()
+            for factor in factors:
+                if _DYNAMIC_ENV_FACTORS.fullmatch(factor) or factor in valid_factors:
+                    found_factors.add(factor)
+                else:
+                    closest = get_close_matches(factor, valid_factors, n=1)
+                    factors[factor] = closest[0] if closest else None
+            if set(factors) - found_factors:
+                invalid_envs[env] = (
+                    None
+                    if any(i is None for i in factors.values())
+                    else "-".join(cast(Iterable[str], factors.values()))
+                )
+        if invalid_envs:
+            msg = "provided environments not found in configuration file:\n"
+            first = True
+            for env, suggestion in invalid_envs.items():
+                if not first:
+                    msg += "\n"
+                first = False
+                msg += env
+                if suggestion:
+                    msg += f" - did you mean {suggestion}?"
+            raise HandledError(msg)
+
     def _env_name_to_active(self) -> dict[str, bool]:
         env_name_to_active_map = {}
         for a_collection, is_active in self._collect_names():
@@ -391,16 +418,6 @@ def _mark_provision(self, on: bool, provision_tox_env: str) -> None:  # noqa: FB
         self._provision = on, provision_tox_env
 
 
-def _find_env_match(value: str, state_conf: set[str]) -> bool:
-    return any(value in conf.split("-") for conf in state_conf) or any(
-        value == "-".join(combo) for combo in permutations(state_conf, 2)
-    )
-
-
-def _is_valid_exception(env: str) -> bool:
-    return env.startswith("py") or env in (".pkg",)
-
-
 __all__ = [
     "register_env_select_flags",
     "EnvSelector",
diff --git a/tests/session/test_env_select.py b/tests/session/test_env_select.py
index dc7b76e943..49a4410017 100644
--- a/tests/session/test_env_select.py
+++ b/tests/session/test_env_select.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from tox.config.cli.parse import get_options
-from tox.session.env_select import CliEnv, EnvSelector
+from tox.session.env_select import _DYNAMIC_ENV_FACTORS, CliEnv, EnvSelector
 from tox.session.state import State
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def test_allowed_implicit_cli_envs(env_name: str, tox_project: ToxProjectCreator
     assert not outcome.err
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("env_name", ["a", "b", "a-b"])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("env_name", ["a", "b", "a-b", "b-a"])
 def test_matches_hyphenated_env(env_name: str, tox_project: ToxProjectCreator) -> None:
     tox_ini = """
         [tox]
@@ -185,11 +185,9 @@ def test_matches_hyphenated_env(env_name: str, tox_project: ToxProjectCreator) -
     assert not outcome.err
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("env_name", ["3.9", "3.9-cov"])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("env_name", ["3.12", "3.12-cov", "3-cov", "3", "3.12", "py312-cov", "py3.12-cov"])
 def test_matches_combined_env(env_name: str, tox_project: ToxProjectCreator) -> None:
     tox_ini = """
-        [tox]
-        env_list=3.9
         [testenv]
         package=skip
         commands =
@@ -201,3 +199,49 @@ def test_matches_combined_env(env_name: str, tox_project: ToxProjectCreator) ->
     outcome.assert_success()
     assert env_name in outcome.out
     assert not outcome.err
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "env",
+    [
+        "py",
+        "pypy",
+        "pypy3",
+        "pypy3.12",
+        "pypy312",
+        "py3",
+        "py3.12",
+        "py312",
+        "3",
+        "3.12",
+        "3.12.0",
+    ],
+)
+def test_dynamic_env_factors_match(env: str) -> None:
+    assert _DYNAMIC_ENV_FACTORS.fullmatch(env)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "env",
+    [
+        "cy3",
+        "cov",
+        "py10.1",
+    ],
+)
+def test_dynamic_env_factors_not_match(env: str) -> None:
+    assert not _DYNAMIC_ENV_FACTORS.fullmatch(env)
+
+
+def test_suggest_env(tox_project: ToxProjectCreator) -> None:
+    tox_ini = "[testenv:release]\n[testenv:py312]\n[testenv:alpha-py312]\n"
+    proj = tox_project({"tox.ini": tox_ini})
+    outcome = proj.run("r", "-e", "releas,p312,magic,alph-p312")
+    outcome.assert_failed(code=-2)
+
+    assert not outcome.err
+    msg = (
+        "ROOT: HandledError| provided environments not found in configuration file:\n"
+        "releas - did you mean release?\np312 - did you mean py312?\nmagic\nalph-p312 - did you mean alpha-py312?\n"
+    )
+    assert outcome.out == msg