diff --git a/spacy/tests/test_misc.py b/spacy/tests/test_misc.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c55e587e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spacy/tests/test_misc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from ..util import ensure_path
+
+from pathlib import Path
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('text', ['hello/world', 'hello world'])
+def test_util_ensure_path_succeeds(text):
+    path = ensure_path(text)
+    assert isinstance(path, Path)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('text', [b'hello/world', True, False, None])
+def test_util_ensure_path_fails(text):
+    path = ensure_path(text)
+    assert not isinstance(path, Path)