diff --git a/pyomo/core/base/block.py b/pyomo/core/base/block.py
index 656bf6008c4..de94dbe8ae8 100644
--- a/pyomo/core/base/block.py
+++ b/pyomo/core/base/block.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 from pyomo.common.timing import ConstructionTimer
 from pyomo.core.base.component import (
     Component,
+    ComponentData,
     ActiveComponentData,
     ModelComponentFactory,
 )
@@ -1139,6 +1140,14 @@ def del_component(self, name_or_object):
         #    return
 
         name = obj.local_name
+        if isinstance(obj, ComponentData) and not isinstance(obj, Component):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Argument '%s' to del_component is a ComponentData object. Please "
+                "use the Python 'del' function to delete members of indexed "
+                "Pyomo objects. The del_component function can only be used to "
+                "delete IndexedComponents and ScalarComponents." % name
+            )
+
         if name in self._Block_reserved_words:
             raise ValueError(
                 "Attempting to delete a reserved block component:\n\t%s" % (obj.name,)