diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/fetch.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/fetch.ts
index d55d7e98dce..59d51141b33 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/fetch.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/fetch.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ export function useFetch<
   if (!request) {
     throw new Error('[nuxt] [useFetch] request is missing.')
   }
-  const key = '$f' + _key
+  const key = _key === autoKey ? '$f' + _key : _key
 
   const _request = computed(() => {
     let r = request
diff --git a/test/basic.test.ts b/test/basic.test.ts
index 1a79fea1087..cb91e963803 100644
--- a/test/basic.test.ts
+++ b/test/basic.test.ts
@@ -778,7 +778,7 @@ describe.skipIf(process.env.NUXT_TEST_DEV || isWindows)('payload rendering', ()
   it('renders a payload', async () => {
     const payload = await $fetch('/random/a/_payload.js', { responseType: 'text' })
     expect(payload).toMatch(
-      /export default \{data:\{\$frand_a:\[[^\]]*\]\},prerenderedAt:\d*\}/
+      /export default \{data:\{rand_a:\[[^\]]*\]\},prerenderedAt:\d*\}/
     )
   })