diff --git a/docs/changelog/215.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/215.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2f6ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/215.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Prevent an earlier virtual-environment lookup from reporting an executable under the wrong Python version.
diff --git a/src/python_discovery/_py_info.py b/src/python_discovery/_py_info.py
index 64acb8f..09733de 100644
--- a/src/python_discovery/_py_info.py
+++ b/src/python_discovery/_py_info.py
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ def resolve_to_system(cls, cache: PyInfoCache | None, target: PythonInfo) -> Pyt
             target.executable = start_executable
         return target
 
-    _cache_exe_discovery: ClassVar[dict[tuple[str, bool], PythonInfo]] = {}
+    _cache_exe_discovery: ClassVar[dict[tuple[str, bool, VersionInfo], PythonInfo]] = {}
 
     def discover_exe(
         self,
@@ -502,7 +502,7 @@ def discover_exe(
         :param exact: when ``True``, require an exact version match.
         :param env: environment mapping; defaults to :data:`os.environ`.
         """
-        key = prefix, exact
+        key = prefix, exact, self.version_info
         if key in self._cache_exe_discovery and prefix:
             _LOGGER.debug("discover exe from cache %s - exact %s: %r", prefix, exact, self._cache_exe_discovery[key])
             return self._cache_exe_discovery[key]
diff --git a/tests/test_py_info_extra.py b/tests/test_py_info_extra.py
index 84d75af..016636a 100644
--- a/tests/test_py_info_extra.py
+++ b/tests/test_py_info_extra.py
@@ -171,12 +171,28 @@ def test_resolve_to_system_single_prefix_self_link(mocker: MockerFixture, caplog
 def test_discover_exe_cache_hit() -> None:
     info = copy.deepcopy(CURRENT)
     cached = copy.deepcopy(CURRENT)
-    PythonInfo._cache_exe_discovery["/some/prefix", True] = cached
+    PythonInfo._cache_exe_discovery["/some/prefix", True, info.version_info] = cached
     try:
         result = info.discover_exe(MagicMock(), prefix="/some/prefix", exact=True)
         assert result is cached
     finally:
-        del PythonInfo._cache_exe_discovery["/some/prefix", True]
+        del PythonInfo._cache_exe_discovery["/some/prefix", True, info.version_info]
+
+
+def test_discover_exe_cache_keeps_requested_version(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    prefix = CURRENT.prefix
+    assert prefix is not None
+    cache = DiskCache(tmp_path)
+    PythonInfo.clear_cache(cache)
+    try:
+        found = CURRENT.discover_exe(cache, prefix)
+        assert found.version_info == CURRENT.version_info
+        other = copy.deepcopy(CURRENT)
+        other.version_info = other.version_info._replace(major=0)
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError):
+            other.discover_exe(cache, prefix)
+    finally:
+        PythonInfo.clear_cache(cache)
 
 
 def test_check_exe_none_path(tmp_path: Path) -> None: