diff --git a/django/core/management/validation.py b/django/core/management/validation.py
index 047acb04953..feb3744781e 100644
--- a/django/core/management/validation.py
+++ b/django/core/management/validation.py
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ def get_validation_errors(outfile, app=None):
                     continue
                 # Skip ordering in the format field1__field2 (FIXME: checking
                 # this format would be nice, but it's a little fiddly).
-                if '_' in field_name:
+                if '__' in field_name:
                     continue
                 try:
                     opts.get_field(field_name, many_to_many=False)
diff --git a/tests/modeltests/invalid_models/models.py b/tests/modeltests/invalid_models/models.py
index b263390c397..ef3edd8563f 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/invalid_models/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/invalid_models/models.py
@@ -206,6 +206,9 @@ class UniqueFKTarget2(models.Model):
     """ Model to test for unique FK target in previously seen model: expect no error """
     tgt = models.ForeignKey(FKTarget, to_field='good')
 
+class NonExistingOrderingWithSingleUnderscore(models.Model):
+    class Meta:
+        ordering = ("does_not_exist",)
 
 model_errors = """invalid_models.fielderrors: "charfield": CharFields require a "max_length" attribute that is a positive integer.
 invalid_models.fielderrors: "charfield2": CharFields require a "max_length" attribute that is a positive integer.
@@ -311,4 +314,5 @@ invalid_models.abstractrelationmodel: 'fk2' has an m2m relation with model Abstr
 invalid_models.uniquem2m: ManyToManyFields cannot be unique.  Remove the unique argument on 'unique_people'.
 invalid_models.nonuniquefktarget1: Field 'bad' under model 'FKTarget' must have a unique=True constraint.
 invalid_models.nonuniquefktarget2: Field 'bad' under model 'FKTarget' must have a unique=True constraint.
+invalid_models.nonexistingorderingwithsingleunderscore: "ordering" refers to "does_not_exist", a field that doesn't exist.
 """