diff --git a/spacy/cli/debug_config.py b/spacy/cli/debug_config.py
index 7930d0674..d07a0bb2d 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/debug_config.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/debug_config.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from typing import Optional, Dict, Any, Union, List
 from pathlib import Path
 from wasabi import msg, table
 from thinc.api import Config
-from thinc.config import VARIABLE_RE
+from thinc.config import VARIABLE_RE, ConfigValidationError
 import typer
 
 from ._util import Arg, Opt, show_validation_error, parse_config_overrides
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ def debug_config(
     msg.divider("Config validation")
     with show_validation_error(config_path):
         config = util.load_config(config_path, overrides=overrides)
-        nlp, _ = util.load_model_from_config(config)
+        nlp, resolved = util.load_model_from_config(config)
+        # Use the resolved config here in case user has one function returning
+        # a dict of corpora etc.
+        check_section_refs(resolved, ["training.dev_corpus", "training.train_corpus"])
     msg.good("Config is valid")
     if show_vars:
         variables = get_variables(config)
@@ -93,3 +96,23 @@ def get_variables(config: Config) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         value = util.dot_to_object(config, path)
         result[variable] = repr(value)
     return result
+
+
+def check_section_refs(config: Config, fields: List[str]) -> None:
+    """Validate fields in the config that refer to other sections or values
+    (e.g. in the corpora) and make sure that those references exist.
+    """
+    errors = []
+    for field in fields:
+        # If the field doesn't exist in the config, we ignore it
+        try:
+            value = util.dot_to_object(config, field)
+        except KeyError:
+            continue
+        try:
+            util.dot_to_object(config, value)
+        except KeyError:
+            msg = f"not a valid section reference: {value}"
+            errors.append({"loc": field.split("."), "msg": msg})
+    if errors:
+        raise ConfigValidationError(config, errors)
diff --git a/spacy/tests/test_cli.py b/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
index a9c9d8ca5..1bc246fef 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ from spacy.cli.init_config import init_config, RECOMMENDATIONS
 from spacy.cli._util import validate_project_commands, parse_config_overrides
 from spacy.cli._util import load_project_config, substitute_project_variables
 from spacy.cli._util import string_to_list, OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR
-from thinc.config import ConfigValidationError
+from spacy.cli.debug_config import check_section_refs
+from thinc.config import ConfigValidationError, Config
 import srsly
 import os
 
@@ -413,3 +414,15 @@ def test_string_to_list(value):
 def test_string_to_list_intify(value):
     assert string_to_list(value, intify=False) == ["1", "2", "3"]
     assert string_to_list(value, intify=True) == [1, 2, 3]
+
+
+def test_check_section_refs():
+    config = {"a": {"b": {"c": "a.d.e"}, "d": {"e": 1}}, "f": {"g": "d.f"}}
+    config = Config(config)
+    # Valid section reference
+    check_section_refs(config, ["a.b.c"])
+    # Section that doesn't exist in this config
+    check_section_refs(config, ["x.y.z"])
+    # Invalid section reference
+    with pytest.raises(ConfigValidationError):
+        check_section_refs(config, ["a.b.c", "f.g"])