diff --git a/crates/frontend-promql/src/promql.rs b/crates/frontend-promql/src/promql.rs
index 6564003d..a7d83e76 100644
--- a/crates/frontend-promql/src/promql.rs
+++ b/crates/frontend-promql/src/promql.rs
@@ -1274,6 +1274,16 @@ fn selector_is_bucket(vs: &VectorSelector) -> bool {
 fn walk_binary(bin: &BinaryExpr) -> Result<Unresolved> {
     let lhs = scalar_or_vector(&bin.lhs)?;
     let rhs = scalar_or_vector(&bin.rhs)?;
+    // `VectorMatch` has no fill field; dropping fill would change which series
+    // are emitted and their values, so the query must fall back to exact
+    // execution instead.
+    if let Some(m) = &bin.modifier {
+        if m.fill_values.lhs.is_some() || m.fill_values.rhs.is_some() {
+            return Err(LoweringError::UnsupportedFeature(format!(
+                "`fill` vector-matching modifier: `{bin}`"
+            )));
+        }
+    }
     let op = match (binop(bin.op.id())?, bin.return_bool()) {
         (BinaryOpKind::Compare(op), true) => BinaryOpKind::CompareBool(op),
         (op, _) => op,
diff --git a/crates/frontend-promql/tests/observability/promql_corpus.rs b/crates/frontend-promql/tests/observability/promql_corpus.rs
index beb16d61..f265edb4 100644
--- a/crates/frontend-promql/tests/observability/promql_corpus.rs
+++ b/crates/frontend-promql/tests/observability/promql_corpus.rs
@@ -155,13 +155,16 @@ fn lowering_is_total_over_the_entire_corpus() {
     // rather than pin an exact count — ratchet them up as coverage lands.
     //
     // The 235 unparseable are parser-fork gaps (issue #108); the rejections are
-    // lowering gaps (#109). Both shrink over time, so these floors only ever rise.
+    // lowering gaps (#109). Both shrink over time, so these floors normally only
+    // rise. Exception: the testdata floor was lowered to the measured 1485 when
+    // the 44 `fill` vector-matching queries became rejected rather than
+    // silently lowered without their fill semantics.
     assert!(
         docs.lowered >= 47,
         "docs lowering coverage regressed: {docs:?}"
     );
     assert!(
-        td.lowered >= 1495,
+        td.lowered >= 1485,
         "testdata lowering coverage regressed: {td:?}"
     );
 }
diff --git a/crates/frontend-promql/tests/promql_lowering.rs b/crates/frontend-promql/tests/promql_lowering.rs
index a71cb5ba..eea38873 100644
--- a/crates/frontend-promql/tests/promql_lowering.rs
+++ b/crates/frontend-promql/tests/promql_lowering.rs
@@ -864,6 +864,28 @@ fn pathologically_nested_query_is_rejected_not_stack_overflow() {
     assert!(format!("{err}").contains("nesting"), "got {err}");
 }
 
+// Behavior: every parser-accepted `fill` modifier form is rejected with a
+// fill-specific lowering error rather than silently dropped.
+#[test]
+fn fill_modifiers_are_rejected_not_ignored() {
+    for q in [
+        "a + fill(0) b",
+        "a + fill_left(1) b",
+        "a + fill_right(2) b",
+        "a + fill_left(1) fill_right(2) b",
+        "a + fill_right(2) fill_left(1) b",
+        "a + on(job) fill(0) b",
+        "a * ignoring(instance) group_left(env) fill_right(0) b",
+        "a > bool on(job) fill(0) b",
+        "sum(a - on(job) group_right fill_left(0) b)",
+    ] {
+        match lower_promql(q, AccuracyTarget::Exact) {
+            Err(LoweringError::UnsupportedFeature(m)) if m.contains("`fill`") => {}
+            other => panic!("expected fill rejection for {q:?}, got {other:?}"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 // ── accuracy propagation ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 #[test]
diff --git a/docs/develop_docs/physical-compile-coverage.md b/docs/develop_docs/physical-compile-coverage.md
index 4d6dc44c..32f93292 100644
--- a/docs/develop_docs/physical-compile-coverage.md
+++ b/docs/develop_docs/physical-compile-coverage.md
@@ -229,6 +229,6 @@ In order of backend usage:
    aggregated (label-column) rows. The logical output schema, which is the left
    side's, has no column for them.
 9. An equal-label-set check for inner subquery functions, per step.
-10. `fill`, `fill_left`, and `fill_right` matching modifiers. The frontend
-   still ignores them. Rejecting them drops 27 corpus queries below the
-   lowering floor, so that change needs its own decision.
+
+`fill`, `fill_left`, and `fill_right` matching modifiers are rejected by the
+frontend (#494); they are never silently ignored.