diff --git a/include/rcutils/split.h b/include/rcutils/split.h
index ec62f772..b682901d 100644
--- a/include/rcutils/split.h
+++ b/include/rcutils/split.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ rcutils_split(
  * \param[in] allocator for allocating new memory for the output array
  * \param[out] string_array with the split tokens
  * \return #RCUTILS_RET_OK if successful, or
+ * \return #RCUTILS_RET_BAD_ALLOC if memory allocation fails, or
  * \return #RCUTILS_RET_ERROR if an unknown error occurs
  */
 RCUTILS_PUBLIC
diff --git a/src/split.c b/src/split.c
index a807be2b..275da14d 100644
--- a/src/split.c
+++ b/src/split.c
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ rcutils_split(
   }
 
   RCUTILS_SET_ERROR_MSG("unable to allocate memory for string array data");
-  return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
+  return RCUTILS_RET_BAD_ALLOC;
 }
 
 rcutils_ret_t
diff --git a/test/test_split.cpp b/test/test_split.cpp
index 8a5724a0..02aa8f77 100644
--- a/test/test_split.cpp
+++ b/test/test_split.cpp
@@ -68,13 +68,13 @@ TEST(test_split, split) {
   rcutils_allocator_t time_bomb_allocator = get_time_bomb_allocator();
   set_time_bomb_allocator_malloc_count(time_bomb_allocator, 0);
   EXPECT_EQ(
-    RCUTILS_RET_ERROR,
+    RCUTILS_RET_BAD_ALLOC,
     rcutils_split("Test", '/', time_bomb_allocator, &tokens_fail));
 
   // Allocating string_array->data[0] fails
   set_time_bomb_allocator_malloc_count(time_bomb_allocator, 1);
   EXPECT_EQ(
-    RCUTILS_RET_ERROR,
+    RCUTILS_RET_BAD_ALLOC,
     rcutils_split("hello/world", '/', time_bomb_allocator, &tokens_fail));
 
   rcutils_string_array_t tokens0 = test_split("", '/', 0);