diff --git a/lib/internal/main/check_syntax.js b/lib/internal/main/check_syntax.js
index 16e367c4e089..7bc7bbc1ede4 100644
--- a/lib/internal/main/check_syntax.js
+++ b/lib/internal/main/check_syntax.js
@@ -67,6 +67,18 @@ async function checkSyntax(source, filename) {
     format = await defaultGetFormat(new URL(url));
   }
 
+  // A `.js` file with no `"type"` in the nearest package.json has no format of
+  // its own. At load time the goal is decided by looking for module syntax in
+  // the source, so decide it the same way here. Otherwise such a file is only
+  // ever parsed as CommonJS, where module syntax makes the parse bail out
+  // before any syntax error in the rest of the file is reported.
+  if (format === null || format === undefined) {
+    const { containsModuleSyntax } = internalBinding('contextify');
+    if (containsModuleSyntax(source, filename)) {
+      format = 'module';
+    }
+  }
+
   if (format === 'module') {
     const { ModuleWrap } = internalBinding('module_wrap');
     new ModuleWrap(filename, undefined, source, 0, 0);
diff --git a/test/fixtures/syntax/bad_syntax_esm_ambiguous.js b/test/fixtures/syntax/bad_syntax_esm_ambiguous.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..511f42994f90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/syntax/bad_syntax_esm_ambiguous.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import fs from 'node:fs';
+var = ;
diff --git a/test/sequential/test-cli-syntax-bad.js b/test/sequential/test-cli-syntax-bad.js
index e967ff36ac28..0cf9d020b30f 100644
--- a/test/sequential/test-cli-syntax-bad.js
+++ b/test/sequential/test-cli-syntax-bad.js
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ const syntaxErrorRE = /^SyntaxError: \b/m;
   'syntax/bad_syntax',
   'syntax/bad_syntax_shebang.js',
   'syntax/bad_syntax_shebang',
+  // A `.js` file with no `"type"` in the nearest package.json, whose module
+  // syntax makes it load as ESM. Refs: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/65202
+  'syntax/bad_syntax_esm_ambiguous.js',
 ].forEach((file) => {
   const path = fixtures.path(file);