diff --git a/command/validate.go b/command/validate.go
index cc7b4703ca..7c9188ac74 100644
--- a/command/validate.go
+++ b/command/validate.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty"
+
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/terraform"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/tfdiags"
 )
@@ -119,8 +121,27 @@ func (c *ValidateCommand) validate(dir string) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
 		return diags
 	}
 
+	// "validate" is to check if the given module is valid regardless of
+	// input values, current state, etc. Therefore we populate all of the
+	// input values with unknown values of the expected type, allowing us
+	// to perform a type check without assuming any particular values.
+	varValues := make(terraform.InputValues)
+	for name, variable := range cfg.Module.Variables {
+		ty := variable.Type
+		if ty == cty.NilType {
+			// Can't predict the type at all, so we'll just mark it as
+			// cty.DynamicVal (unknown value of cty.DynamicPseudoType).
+			ty = cty.DynamicPseudoType
+		}
+		varValues[name] = &terraform.InputValue{
+			Value:      cty.UnknownVal(ty),
+			SourceType: terraform.ValueFromCLIArg,
+		}
+	}
+
 	opts := c.contextOpts()
 	opts.Config = cfg
+	opts.Variables = varValues
 
 	tfCtx, ctxDiags := terraform.NewContext(opts)
 	diags = diags.Append(ctxDiags)