diff --git a/src/datasets/arrow_dataset.py b/src/datasets/arrow_dataset.py
index 59451a640e6..247e12b30a2 100644
--- a/src/datasets/arrow_dataset.py
+++ b/src/datasets/arrow_dataset.py
@@ -2655,6 +2655,16 @@ def rename_columns(self, column_mapping: dict[str, str], new_fingerprint: Option
         if empty_new_columns:
             raise ValueError(f"New column names {empty_new_columns} are empty.")
 
+        colliding_new_columns = set(column_mapping.values()) & (
+            set(dataset.column_names) - set(column_mapping.keys())
+        )
+        if colliding_new_columns:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"New column names {colliding_new_columns} already in the dataset. "
+                f"Please choose column names which are not already in the dataset. "
+                f"Current columns in the dataset: {dataset._data.column_names}"
+            )
+
         def rename(columns):
             return [column_mapping[col] if col in column_mapping else col for col in columns]
 
diff --git a/tests/test_arrow_dataset.py b/tests/test_arrow_dataset.py
index 18a8a6038fe..6979390f76f 100644
--- a/tests/test_arrow_dataset.py
+++ b/tests/test_arrow_dataset.py
@@ -688,6 +688,17 @@ def test_rename_columns(self, in_memory):
                 with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     dset.rename_columns({"col_1": "new_name", "col_2": "new_name"})
 
+                # New name collides with an existing column that isn't itself being renamed:
+                # this must raise instead of silently producing two columns named "col_2"
+                # while `features`/`column_names` disagree with the underlying arrow table.
+                with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+                    dset.rename_columns({"col_1": "col_2"})
+
+                # A swap (each renamed column's new name is itself being renamed away) must still work.
+                with dset.rename_columns({"col_1": "col_2", "col_2": "col_1"}) as new_dset:
+                    self.assertEqual(new_dset.num_columns, 3)
+                    self.assertListEqual(list(new_dset.column_names), ["col_2", "col_1", "col_3"])
+
     def test_select_columns(self, in_memory):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
             with self._create_dummy_dataset(in_memory, tmp_dir, multiple_columns=True) as dset: