diff --git a/web/src/filter.ts b/web/src/filter.ts
index a84a3fe17b..0509511c2e 100644
--- a/web/src/filter.ts
+++ b/web/src/filter.ts
@@ -468,31 +468,28 @@ export class Filter {
         };
     }
 
-    static convert_suggestion_to_term(suggestion: NarrowTermSuggestion): NarrowTerm | undefined {
+    static convert_suggestion_to_term(
+        suggestion: NarrowTermSuggestion,
+    ): NarrowCanonicalTerm | undefined {
+        // We don't want to raise exceptions in this function; just
+        // return undefined for invalid terms.
+        //
         // NOTE: We will add more logic here once `NarrowTerm`
         // operand has different type based on operator.
-        const potential_narrow_term: NarrowTerm = {
-            operator: suggestion.operator,
-            operand: suggestion.operand,
-            negated: suggestion.negated,
-        };
+        try {
+            const potential_narrow_term: NarrowCanonicalTerm = Filter.canonicalize_term(suggestion);
 
-        if (!Filter.is_valid_search_term(potential_narrow_term)) {
+            if (!Filter.is_valid_canonical_term(potential_narrow_term)) {
+                return undefined;
+            }
+
+            return potential_narrow_term;
+        } catch {
             return undefined;
         }
-
-        return potential_narrow_term;
     }
 
-    static is_valid_search_term(term: NarrowTerm): boolean {
-        // We don't want to raise exceptions in this function; just
-        // return false for invalid terms.
-        try {
-            term = Filter.canonicalize_term(term);
-        } catch {
-            return false;
-        }
-
+    static is_valid_canonical_term(term: NarrowCanonicalTerm): boolean {
         switch (term.operator) {
             case "has":
                 return ["image", "link", "attachment", "reaction"].includes(term.operand);
diff --git a/web/src/search_pill.ts b/web/src/search_pill.ts
index 7a9592b8da..951588f181 100644
--- a/web/src/search_pill.ts
+++ b/web/src/search_pill.ts
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ export function set_search_bar_contents(
             continue;
         }
 
-        if (!Filter.is_valid_search_term(term)) {
+        if (Filter.convert_suggestion_to_term(term) === undefined) {
             invalid_inputs.push(input);
             continue;
         }
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ export function set_search_bar_contents(
         if (user_pill_operators.has(term.operator) && term.operand !== "") {
             const users = term.operand.split(",").map((email) => {
                 // This is definitely not undefined, because we just validated it
-                // with `Filter.is_valid_search_term`.
+                // with `Filter.convert_suggestion_to_term`.
                 const user = people.get_by_email(email)!;
                 return user;
             });
diff --git a/web/src/search_suggestion.ts b/web/src/search_suggestion.ts
index f079348109..58da1622a1 100644
--- a/web/src/search_suggestion.ts
+++ b/web/src/search_suggestion.ts
@@ -1117,7 +1117,7 @@ export function get_search_result(
         attacher.push([...attacher.base, ...suggestion_line]);
     } else if (
         all_search_terms.length > 0 &&
-        all_search_terms.every((term) => Filter.is_valid_search_term(term))
+        all_search_terms.every((term) => Filter.convert_suggestion_to_term(term) !== undefined)
     ) {
         suggestion_line = get_default_suggestion_line(all_search_terms);
         attacher.push(suggestion_line);
diff --git a/web/tests/filter.test.cjs b/web/tests/filter.test.cjs
index cf3f5fe00e..4c8b14cb6c 100644
--- a/web/tests/filter.test.cjs
+++ b/web/tests/filter.test.cjs
@@ -2089,7 +2089,7 @@ test("first_valid_id_from", ({override}) => {
     assert.equal(filter.first_valid_id_from(msg_ids), 20);
 });
 
-test("is_valid_search_term", () => {
+test("convert_suggestion_to_term", () => {
     const denmark = {
         stream_id: 100,
         name: "Denmark",
@@ -2118,16 +2118,17 @@ test("is_valid_search_term", () => {
     ];
     for (const [search_term_string, expected_is_valid] of test_data) {
         assert.equal(
-            Filter.is_valid_search_term(Filter.parse(search_term_string)[0]),
+            Filter.convert_suggestion_to_term(Filter.parse(search_term_string)[0]) !== undefined,
             expected_is_valid,
         );
     }
 
+    // Invalid operator.
     assert.equal(
-        Filter.is_valid_search_term({
+        Filter.convert_suggestion_to_term({
             operator: "foo",
             operand: "bar",
-        }),
+        }) !== undefined,
         false,
     );
 });