diff --git a/lib/internal/streams/readable.js b/lib/internal/streams/readable.js
index b6145bf2412db1..919c527a2be6f8 100644
--- a/lib/internal/streams/readable.js
+++ b/lib/internal/streams/readable.js
@@ -1669,7 +1669,7 @@ function fromList(n, state) {
         n -= str.length;
         buf[idx++] = null;
       } else {
-        if (n === buf.length) {
+        if (n === str.length) {
           ret += str;
           buf[idx++] = null;
         } else {
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-stream2-read-correct-num-bytes-in-utf8.js b/test/parallel/test-stream2-read-correct-num-bytes-in-utf8.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..476f041e3f4087
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-stream2-read-correct-num-bytes-in-utf8.js
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { Readable } = require('stream');
+
+const readable = new Readable({ read() {} });
+readable.setEncoding('utf8');
+
+readable.push('abc');
+readable.push('defgh');
+readable.push(null);
+
+assert.strictEqual(readable.read(5), 'abcde');
+assert.strictEqual(readable.read(3), 'fgh');
+assert.strictEqual(readable.read(1), null);