diff --git a/js/input/Hotkey.ts b/js/input/Hotkey.ts
index 48c3875ee..e92d91019 100644
--- a/js/input/Hotkey.ts
+++ b/js/input/Hotkey.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  * @author Jonathan Olson <jonathan.olson@colorado.edu>
  */
 
-import { EnglishKey, hotkeyManager, scenery } from '../imports.js';
+import { EnglishKey, EnglishStringToCodeMap, hotkeyManager, scenery } from '../imports.js';
 import optionize from '../../../phet-core/js/optionize.js';
 import EnabledComponent, { EnabledComponentOptions } from '../../../axon/js/EnabledComponent.js';
 import TProperty from '../../../axon/js/TProperty.js';
@@ -158,6 +158,11 @@ export default class Hotkey extends EnabledComponent {
 
     this.keys = _.uniq( [ this.key, ...this.modifierKeys ] );
 
+    // Make sure that every key has an entry in the EnglishStringToCodeMap
+    for ( const key of this.keys ) {
+      assert && assert( EnglishStringToCodeMap[ key ], `No codes for this key exists, do you need to add it to EnglishStringToCodeMap?: ${key}` );
+    }
+
     // Create a timer to handle the optional fire-on-hold feature.
     if ( this.fireOnHold && this.fireOnHoldTiming === 'custom' ) {
       this.fireOnHoldTimer = new CallbackTimer( {
diff --git a/js/listeners/KeyboardListenerTests.ts b/js/listeners/KeyboardListenerTests.ts
index 63d6b6550..963a352e9 100644
--- a/js/listeners/KeyboardListenerTests.ts
+++ b/js/listeners/KeyboardListenerTests.ts
@@ -66,13 +66,16 @@ QUnit.test( 'KeyboardListener Tests', assert => {
     bogusListener.dispose();
   }, Error, 'Constructor should catch providing bad keys at runtime' );
 
-  const a = new Node( { tagName: 'div' } );
+  const a = new Node( { tagName: 'div', focusable: true } );
   rootNode.addChild( a );
   a.addInputListener( listener );
 
   const domElementA = a.pdomInstances[ 0 ].peer!.primarySibling!;
   assert.ok( domElementA, 'pdom element needed' );
 
+  // Hotkey uses the focused Trail to determine if it should fire, so we need to focus the element
+  a.focus();
+
   triggerKeydownEvent( domElementA, KeyboardUtils.KEY_TAB );
   assert.ok( !callbackFired, 'should not fire on tab' );
   triggerKeyupEvent( domElementA, KeyboardUtils.KEY_TAB );
@@ -103,7 +106,15 @@ QUnit.test( 'KeyboardListener Tests', assert => {
       }
     }
   } );
+
   a.addInputListener( listenerWithOverlappingKeys );
+
+  // TODO: https://github.com/phetsims/scenery/issues/1570, This is a workaround for a problem with hotkeyManager
+  //   where it doesn't update the availableHotkeys when new input listeners are added. We can manually update by
+  //   triggering focus changes.
+  a.blur();
+  a.focus();
+
   triggerKeydownEvent( domElementA, KeyboardUtils.KEY_P, true );
   assert.ok( !pFired, 'p should not fire because control key is down' );
   assert.ok( ctrlPFired, 'ctrl P should have fired' );