diff --git a/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.mjs b/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.mjs
index 07b68bb3389..df101e652a0 100644
--- a/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.mjs
+++ b/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.mjs
@@ -34,10 +34,7 @@ export function compareExtraction(extractedCatalog, englishCatalog) {
   const dynamicDefaults = [...extracted.entries()]
     .filter(([, value]) => value.length === 0)
     .map(([key]) => key)
-  const missingFromEnglish = [...extracted.entries()]
-    .filter(([, value]) => value.length > 0)
-    .map(([key]) => key)
-    .filter((key) => !english.has(key))
+  const missingFromEnglish = [...extracted.keys()].filter((key) => !english.has(key))
   const orphans = [...english.keys()].filter((key) => !extracted.has(key))
   const fallbackDrift = []
   const placeholderMismatches = []
diff --git a/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.test.mjs b/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.test.mjs
index 1c7e6682261..ae7556e9315 100644
--- a/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.test.mjs
+++ b/config/scripts/verify-localization-extraction.test.mjs
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ describe('verify-localization-extraction', () => {
     expect(result.placeholderMismatches).toEqual([])
   })
 
+  it('rejects undeclared keys even when their defaults are dynamic', () => {
+    const result = compareExtraction({ menu: { dynamic: '' } }, {})
+
+    expect(result.missingFromEnglish).toEqual(['menu.dynamic'])
+  })
+
   it('rejects missing English declarations and incompatible placeholders', () => {
     const result = compareExtraction(
       {