diff --git a/zio/csvio/writer.go b/zio/csvio/writer.go
index 56a9a50c19..d708ec4169 100644
--- a/zio/csvio/writer.go
+++ b/zio/csvio/writer.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/brimdata/zed"
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ func (w *Writer) Write(rec *zed.Value) error {
 		if err := w.encoder.Write(hdr); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-	} else if rec.Type != w.first {
+	} else if rec.Type != w.first && !fieldsEqual(rec.Fields(), w.first.Fields) {
 		return ErrNotDataFrame
 	}
 	w.strings = w.strings[:0]
@@ -96,3 +97,9 @@ func formatValue(typ zed.Type, bytes zcode.Bytes) string {
 	}
 	return zson.FormatValue(zed.NewValue(typ, bytes))
 }
+
+func fieldsEqual(a, b []zed.Field) bool {
+	return slices.EqualFunc(a, b, func(a, b zed.Field) bool {
+		return a.Name == b.Name
+	})
+}
diff --git a/zio/csvio/ztests/different-types.yaml b/zio/csvio/ztests/different-types.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..da59907576
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zio/csvio/ztests/different-types.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+zed: '*'
+
+input: |
+  {a:0}
+  {a:"foo"}
+  {a:127.0.0.1}
+
+output-flags: -f csv
+
+output: |
+  a
+  0
+  foo
+  127.0.0.1