diff --git a/src/go/types/instantiate.go b/src/go/types/instantiate.go
index ec646e1a5cbba..2d2d1718f46e1 100644
--- a/src/go/types/instantiate.go
+++ b/src/go/types/instantiate.go
@@ -13,40 +13,50 @@ import (
 	"go/token"
 )
 
-// Instantiate instantiates the type typ with the given type arguments targs.
-// typ must be a *Named or a *Signature type, and its number of type parameters
-// must match the number of provided type arguments. The result is a new,
-// instantiated (not parameterized) type of the same kind (either a *Named or a
-// *Signature). Any methods attached to a *Named are simply copied; they are
-// not instantiated.
+// Instantiate instantiates the type orig with the given type arguments targs.
+// orig must be a *Named or a *Signature type. If there is no error, the
+// resulting Type is a new, instantiated (not parameterized) type of the same
+// kind (either a *Named or a *Signature). Methods attached to a *Named type
+// are also instantiated, and associated with a new *Func that has the same
+// position as the original method, but nil function scope.
 //
-// If ctxt is non-nil, it may be used to de-dupe the instance against previous
-// instances with the same identity.
+// If ctxt is non-nil, it may be used to de-duplicate the instance against
+// previous instances with the same identity. As a special case, generic
+// *Signature origin types are only considered identical if they are pointer
+// equivalent, so that instantiating distinct (but possibly identical)
+// signatures will yield different instances.
 //
-// If verify is set and constraint satisfaction fails, the returned error may
-// wrap an *ArgumentError indicating which type argument did not satisfy its
-// corresponding type parameter constraint, and why.
+// If validate is set, Instantiate verifies that the number of type arguments
+// and parameters match, and that the type arguments satisfy their
+// corresponding type constraints. If verification fails, the resulting error
+// may wrap an *ArgumentError indicating which type argument did not satisfy
+// its corresponding type parameter constraint, and why.
 //
-// TODO(rfindley): change this function to also return an error if lengths of
-// tparams and targs do not match.
-func Instantiate(ctxt *Context, typ Type, targs []Type, validate bool) (Type, error) {
-	inst := (*Checker)(nil).instance(token.NoPos, typ, targs, ctxt)
-
-	var err error
+// If validate is not set, Instantiate does not verify the type argument count
+// or whether the type arguments satisfy their constraints. Instantiate is
+// guaranteed to not return an error, but may panic. Specifically, for
+// *Signature types, Instantiate will panic immediately if the type argument
+// count is incorrect; for *Named types, a panic may occur later inside the
+// *Named API.
+func Instantiate(ctxt *Context, orig Type, targs []Type, validate bool) (Type, error) {
 	if validate {
 		var tparams []*TypeParam
-		switch t := typ.(type) {
+		switch t := orig.(type) {
 		case *Named:
 			tparams = t.TypeParams().list()
 		case *Signature:
 			tparams = t.TypeParams().list()
 		}
+		if len(targs) != len(tparams) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("got %d type arguments but %s has %d type parameters", len(targs), orig, len(tparams))
+		}
 		if i, err := (*Checker)(nil).verify(token.NoPos, tparams, targs); err != nil {
-			return inst, &ArgumentError{i, err}
+			return nil, &ArgumentError{i, err}
 		}
 	}
 
-	return inst, err
+	inst := (*Checker)(nil).instance(token.NoPos, orig, targs, ctxt)
+	return inst, nil
 }
 
 // instance creates a type or function instance using the given original type