diff --git a/src/public/PyDict.c b/src/public/PyDict.c
index c0e47b8b..b1647771 100644
--- a/src/public/PyDict.c
+++ b/src/public/PyDict.c
@@ -568,22 +568,25 @@ static bool dict_pop(int argc, py_Ref argv) {
     if(res == 0) py_assign(py_retval(), default_val);
     return true;
 }
+
 static bool dict_popitem(int argc, py_Ref argv) {
     PY_CHECK_ARGC(1);
     Dict* self = py_touserdata(argv);
-    if(self->length == 0) return KeyError(py_None());
     for(int i = self->entries.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
         DictEntry* entry = c11__at(DictEntry, &self->entries, i);
         if(py_isnil(&entry->key)) continue;
-        py_Ref p = py_newtuple(py_retval(), 2);
+        py_Ref p = py_newtuple(py_pushtmp(), 2);
         p[0] = entry->key;
         p[1] = entry->val;
-        py_TValue key_copy = entry->key;
-        Dict__pop(self, &key_copy);
+        int res = Dict__pop(self, &p[0]);
+        c11__rtassert(res == 1);
+        py_assign(py_retval(), py_peek(-1));
+        py_pop();
         return true;
     }
     return KeyError(py_None());
 }
+
 static bool dict_keys(int argc, py_Ref argv) {
     PY_CHECK_ARGC(1);
     Dict* self = py_touserdata(argv);
diff --git a/tests/080_dict.py b/tests/080_dict.py
index 1ccc6603..32431517 100644
--- a/tests/080_dict.py
+++ b/tests/080_dict.py
@@ -142,6 +142,17 @@ for i in range(n):
     del a[str(i)]
 assert len(a) == 0
 
+# test popitem
+n = 2 ** 17
+a = {}
+for i in range(n):
+    a[str(i)] = i
+for i in range(n):
+    k, v = a.popitem()
+    assert k == str(n - 1 - i)
+    assert v == n - 1 - i
+assert len(a) == 0
+
 # test del with int keys
 if 0:
     n = 2 ** 17