diff --git a/builtin/show-ref.c b/builtin/show-ref.c
index 107d05fe0e..2dfcb5634c 100644
--- a/builtin/show-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/show-ref.c
@@ -73,9 +73,6 @@ static int show_ref(const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid,
 				continue;
 			if (len == reflen)
 				goto match;
-			/* "--verify" requires an exact match */
-			if (verify)
-				continue;
 			if (refname[reflen - len - 1] == '/')
 				goto match;
 		}