diff --git a/cmd/podman/kube/play.go b/cmd/podman/kube/play.go
index 3a8358063f..f2d2565c88 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/kube/play.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/kube/play.go
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ func playFlags(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	flags.BoolVarP(&playOptions.Wait, waitFlagName, "w", false, "Clean up all objects created when a SIGTERM is received or pods exit")
 
 	configmapFlagName := "configmap"
-	flags.StringSliceVar(&playOptions.ConfigMaps, configmapFlagName, []string{}, "`Pathname` of a YAML file containing a kubernetes configmap")
+	flags.StringArrayVar(&playOptions.ConfigMaps, configmapFlagName, []string{}, "`Pathname` of a YAML file containing a kubernetes configmap")
 	_ = cmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc(configmapFlagName, completion.AutocompleteDefault)
 
 	noTruncFlagName := "no-trunc"
diff --git a/test/system/700-play.bats b/test/system/700-play.bats
index ee507cf176..f5c8631ad5 100644
--- a/test/system/700-play.bats
+++ b/test/system/700-play.bats
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@ spec:
 }
 
 @test "podman kube play with configmaps" {
-    configmap_file=${PODMAN_TMPDIR}/play_kube_configmap_configmaps$(random_string 6).yaml
+    configmap_file=${PODMAN_TMPDIR}/play_kube_configmap_configmaps$(random_string 6),withcomma.yaml
     echo "
 ---
 apiVersion: v1