diff --git a/keras/backend/cntk_backend.py b/keras/backend/cntk_backend.py
index bf4ca504471e..f6ebf5e01f85 100644
--- a/keras/backend/cntk_backend.py
+++ b/keras/backend/cntk_backend.py
@@ -545,6 +545,8 @@ def batch_dot(x, y, axes=None):
     if axes is None:
         # behaves like tf.batch_matmul as default
         axes = [len(x_shape) - 1, len(y_shape) - 2]
+    if b_any([isinstance(a, (list, tuple)) for a in axes]):
+        raise ValueError('Multiple target dimensions are not supported.')
 
     if len(x_shape) == 2 and len(y_shape) == 2:
         if axes[0] == axes[1]:
diff --git a/keras/backend/tensorflow_backend.py b/keras/backend/tensorflow_backend.py
index 392120fc8fd6..3f9f05059006 100644
--- a/keras/backend/tensorflow_backend.py
+++ b/keras/backend/tensorflow_backend.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 from .common import image_dim_ordering
 
 py_all = all
+py_any = any
 py_sum = sum
 
 # INTERNAL UTILS
@@ -1135,6 +1136,8 @@ def batch_dot(x, y, axes=None):
     if axes is None:
         # behaves like tf.batch_matmul as default
         axes = [x_ndim - 1, y_ndim - 2]
+    if py_any([isinstance(a, (list, tuple)) for a in axes]):
+        raise ValueError('Multiple target dimensions are not supported.')
     if x_ndim > y_ndim:
         diff = x_ndim - y_ndim
         y = tf.reshape(y, tf.concat([tf.shape(y), [1] * (diff)], axis=0))
diff --git a/keras/backend/theano_backend.py b/keras/backend/theano_backend.py
index ec3c1b988625..9df0e19c6bea 100644
--- a/keras/backend/theano_backend.py
+++ b/keras/backend/theano_backend.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 from .common import set_image_dim_ordering, image_dim_ordering
 
 py_all = all
+py_any = any
 py_sum = sum
 
 
@@ -451,6 +452,8 @@ def batch_dot(x, y, axes=None):
     if axes is None:
         # behaves like tf.batch_matmul as default
         axes = [x.ndim - 1, y.ndim - 2]
+    if py_any([isinstance(a, (list, tuple)) for a in axes]):
+        raise ValueError('Multiple target dimensions are not supported.')
     if isinstance(axes, tuple):
         axes = list(axes)