diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index aa00879e0..9134e0419 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -171,8 +171,11 @@ export default class VueI18n {
 
   _warnDefault (locale: Locale, key: Path, result: ?any, vm: ?any, values: any): ?string {
     if (!isNull(result)) { return result }
-    if (this._missing) {
-      this._missing.apply(null, [locale, key, vm, values])
+    if (this.missing) {
+      const missingResult = this.missing.call(null, locale, key, vm)
+      if (typeof missingResult === 'string') {
+        return missingResult
+      }
     } else {
       if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && !this._silentTranslationWarn) {
         warn(