diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPattern.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPattern.java
index 750e60c25d2..a22c7b80210 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPattern.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPattern.java
@@ -175,6 +175,17 @@ public class PathPattern implements Comparable<PathPattern> {
 		return this.patternString;
 	}
 
+
+	/**
+	 * Whether the pattern string contains pattern syntax that would require
+	 * use of {@link #matches(PathContainer)}, or if it is a regular String that
+	 * could be compared directly to others.
+	 * @since 5.2
+	 */
+	public boolean hasPatternSyntax() {
+		return this.score > 0 || this.patternString.indexOf('?') != -1;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Whether this pattern matches the given path.
 	 * @param pathContainer the candidate path to attempt to match against
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPatternTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPatternTests.java
index 5cc7c451e01..b35f7e20360 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPatternTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/pattern/PathPatternTests.java
@@ -57,6 +57,16 @@ public class PathPatternTests {
 		assertEquals("[/][/][/]",elementsToString(toPathContainer("///").elements()));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void hasPatternSyntax() {
+		PathPatternParser parser = new PathPatternParser();
+		assertTrue(parser.parse("/foo/*").hasPatternSyntax());
+		assertTrue(parser.parse("/foo/**/bar").hasPatternSyntax());
+		assertTrue(parser.parse("/f?o").hasPatternSyntax());
+		assertTrue(parser.parse("/foo/{bar}/baz").hasPatternSyntax());
+		assertFalse(parser.parse("/foo/bar").hasPatternSyntax());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void matching_LiteralPathElement() {
 		checkMatches("foo", "foo");