diff --git a/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkSchemaUtil.java b/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkSchemaUtil.java
index 321050dceb74..c3f00fc352a3 100644
--- a/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkSchemaUtil.java
+++ b/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkSchemaUtil.java
@@ -23,8 +23,11 @@
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import org.apache.iceberg.MetadataColumns;
 import org.apache.iceberg.PartitionSpec;
 import org.apache.iceberg.Schema;
+import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.ValidationException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.expressions.Binder;
 import org.apache.iceberg.expressions.Expression;
 import org.apache.iceberg.relocated.com.google.common.base.Splitter;
@@ -299,4 +302,17 @@ public static long estimateSize(StructType tableSchema, long totalRecords) {
     }
     return result;
   }
+
+  public static void validateMetadataColumnReferences(Schema tableSchema, Schema readSchema) {
+    List<String> conflictingColumnNames = readSchema.columns().stream()
+        .map(Types.NestedField::name)
+        .filter(name -> MetadataColumns.isMetadataColumn(name) && tableSchema.findField(name) != null)
+        .collect(Collectors.toList());
+
+    ValidationException.check(
+        conflictingColumnNames.isEmpty(),
+        "Table column names conflict with names reserved for Iceberg metadata columns: %s.\n" +
+        "Please, use ALTER TABLE statements to rename the conflicting table columns.",
+        conflictingColumnNames);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/SparkBatchScan.java b/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/SparkBatchScan.java
index bcd66de6204f..bb7ac9448bc2 100644
--- a/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/SparkBatchScan.java
+++ b/spark/v3.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/SparkBatchScan.java
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ abstract class SparkBatchScan implements Scan, Batch, SupportsReportStatistics {
 
   SparkBatchScan(SparkSession spark, Table table, SparkReadConf readConf, boolean caseSensitive,
                  Schema expectedSchema, List<Expression> filters, CaseInsensitiveStringMap options) {
+
+    SparkSchemaUtil.validateMetadataColumnReferences(table.schema(), expectedSchema);
+
     this.sparkContext = JavaSparkContext.fromSparkContext(spark.sparkContext());
     this.table = table;
     this.readConf = readConf;
diff --git a/spark/v3.2/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkMetadataColumns.java b/spark/v3.2/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkMetadataColumns.java
index 848545c7ab24..2c591c1292db 100644
--- a/spark/v3.2/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkMetadataColumns.java
+++ b/spark/v3.2/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkMetadataColumns.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.apache.iceberg.AssertHelpers;
 import org.apache.iceberg.FileFormat;
 import org.apache.iceberg.HasTableOperations;
+import org.apache.iceberg.MetadataColumns;
 import org.apache.iceberg.PartitionSpec;
 import org.apache.iceberg.PartitionSpecParser;
 import org.apache.iceberg.Schema;
@@ -169,6 +170,35 @@ public void testPartitionMetadataColumnWithUnknownTransforms() {
         () -> sql("SELECT _partition FROM %s", TABLE_NAME));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testConflictingColumns() {
+    table.updateSchema()
+        .addColumn(MetadataColumns.SPEC_ID.name(), Types.IntegerType.get())
+        .addColumn(MetadataColumns.FILE_PATH.name(), Types.StringType.get())
+        .commit();
+
+    sql("INSERT INTO TABLE %s VALUES (1, 'a1', 'b1', -1, 'path/to/file')", TABLE_NAME);
+
+    assertEquals("Rows must match",
+        ImmutableList.of(row(1L, "a1")),
+        sql("SELECT id, category FROM %s", TABLE_NAME));
+
+    AssertHelpers.assertThrows("Should fail to query conflicting columns",
+        ValidationException.class, "column names conflict",
+        () -> sql("SELECT * FROM %s", TABLE_NAME));
+
+    table.refresh();
+
+    table.updateSchema()
+        .renameColumn(MetadataColumns.SPEC_ID.name(), "_renamed" + MetadataColumns.SPEC_ID.name())
+        .renameColumn(MetadataColumns.FILE_PATH.name(), "_renamed" + MetadataColumns.FILE_PATH.name())
+        .commit();
+
+    assertEquals("Rows must match",
+        ImmutableList.of(row(0, null, -1)),
+        sql("SELECT _spec_id, _partition, _renamed_spec_id FROM %s", TABLE_NAME));
+  }
+
   private void createAndInitTable() throws IOException {
     this.table = TestTables.create(temp.newFolder(), TABLE_NAME, SCHEMA, PartitionSpec.unpartitioned());