diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/__init__.py
index 0b2036aaa57..16fbfd8e046 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/__init__.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class LookupBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
         if 'ansible_search_path' in myvars:
             paths = myvars['ansible_search_path']
         else:
-            paths = self.get_basedir(myvars)
+            paths = [self.get_basedir(myvars)]
 
         result = None
         try: