diff --git a/.appveyor.yml b/.appveyor.yml
index 84cd596bbd10e..d7ce2224e96a2 100644
--- a/.appveyor.yml
+++ b/.appveyor.yml
@@ -55,5 +55,5 @@ test_script:
 - ps:  src\bench_bitcoin.exe -evals=1 -scaling=0
 - ps:  python test\util\bitcoin-util-test.py
 - cmd: python test\util\rpcauth-test.py
-- cmd: python test\functional\test_runner.py --force --quiet --combinedlogslen=4000 --exclude "wallet_multiwallet,wallet_multiwallet.py --usecli"
+- cmd: python test\functional\test_runner.py --force --quiet --combinedlogslen=4000 --exclude wallet_multiwallet
 deploy: off
diff --git a/test/functional/test_runner.py b/test/functional/test_runner.py
index 28437f892556c..d9960460d9296 100755
--- a/test/functional/test_runner.py
+++ b/test/functional/test_runner.py
@@ -285,11 +285,13 @@ def main():
 
     # Remove the test cases that the user has explicitly asked to exclude.
     if args.exclude:
-        exclude_tests = [re.sub("\.py$", "", test) + (".py" if ".py" not in test else "") for test in args.exclude.split(',')]
+        exclude_tests = [test.split('.py')[0] for test in args.exclude.split(',')]
         for exclude_test in exclude_tests:
-            if exclude_test in test_list:
-                test_list.remove(exclude_test)
-            else:
+            # Remove <test_name>.py and <test_name>.py --arg from the test list
+            exclude_list = [test for test in test_list if test.split('.py')[0] == exclude_test]
+            for exclude_item in exclude_list:
+                test_list.remove(exclude_item)
+            if not exclude_list:
                 print("{}WARNING!{} Test '{}' not found in current test list.".format(BOLD[1], BOLD[0], exclude_test))
 
     if not test_list: