diff --git a/src/sampling.jl b/src/sampling.jl
index a80693dcf..cbb0d5c5d 100644
--- a/src/sampling.jl
+++ b/src/sampling.jl
@@ -608,6 +608,11 @@ sample(wv::AbstractWeights) = sample(default_rng(), wv)
 sample(rng::AbstractRNG, a::AbstractArray, wv::AbstractWeights) = a[sample(rng, wv)]
 sample(a::AbstractArray, wv::AbstractWeights) = sample(default_rng(), a, wv)
 
+function sample(rng::AbstractRNG, wv::AbstractWeights{<:Real,T,V}) where {T<:Real,V<:SparseVector{T}}
+    i = sample(rng, Weights(nonzeros(wv.values), sum(wv)))
+    return SparseArrays.nonzeroinds(wv.values)[i]
+end
+
 """
     direct_sample!([rng], a::AbstractArray, wv::AbstractWeights, x::AbstractArray)
 
diff --git a/test/wsampling.jl b/test/wsampling.jl
index efe9a608f..9b7ebc155 100644
--- a/test/wsampling.jl
+++ b/test/wsampling.jl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 using StatsBase
-using Random, Test, OffsetArrays
+using Random, Test, OffsetArrays, SparseArrays
 
 Random.seed!(1234)
 
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ for wv in (
     weights([0.2, 0.8, 0.4, 0.6]),
     weights([2, 8, 4, 6]),
     weights(Float32[0.2, 0.8, 0.4, 0.6]),
+    weights(sparsevec([0, 8, 0, 6])),
     Weights(Float32[0.2, 0.8, 0.4, 0.6], 2),
     Weights([2, 8, 4, 6], 20.0),
 )