diff --git a/tests/cli/options.js b/tests/cli/options.js
index 637aae3493..666a3ee2d4 100644
--- a/tests/cli/options.js
+++ b/tests/cli/options.js
@@ -52,3 +52,6 @@ optionsUtil.addDefaults(config, merged);
 assert.deepStrictEqual(merged.enable, ["a", "c"]);
 assert.deepStrictEqual(merged.disable, ["b", "d"]);
 assert.deepStrictEqual(merged.other, ["x"]);
+
+let value = optionsUtil.sanitizeValue(false, "s");
+assert.deepStrictEqual(value, null);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/util/options.d.ts b/util/options.d.ts
index facc36d622..aa153a7483 100644
--- a/util/options.d.ts
+++ b/util/options.d.ts
@@ -68,3 +68,6 @@ export function resolvePath(path: string, baseDir: string, useNodeResolution?: b
 
 /** Populates default values on a parsed options result. */
 export function addDefaults(config: Config, options: OptionSet): void;
+
+/** Sanitizes an option value to be a valid value of the option's type. */
+export function sanitizeValue(value: any, type: string): boolean | number | string | null | number[] | string[]; // eslint-disable-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/util/options.js b/util/options.js
index d0633b19e2..40132fe155 100644
--- a/util/options.js
+++ b/util/options.js
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ export function help(config, options) {
 }
 
 /** Sanitizes an option value to be a valid value of the option's type. */
-function sanitizeValue(value, type) {
+export function sanitizeValue(value, type) {
   if (value != null) {
     switch (type) {
       case undefined:
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ function sanitizeValue(value, type) {
       case "f": return Number(value) || 0;
       case "s": {
         if (value === true) return "";
+        if (value === false) return null;
         return String(value);
       }
       case "I": {
@@ -233,6 +234,7 @@ export function merge(config, currentOptions, parentOptions, parentBaseDir) {
   return mergedOptions;
 }
 
+
 /** Normalizes a path. */
 export function normalizePath(p) {
   const parsed = path.parse(p);