diff --git a/src/_imagingft.c b/src/_imagingft.c
index ddcf28f97eb..eb04945f032 100644
--- a/src/_imagingft.c
+++ b/src/_imagingft.c
@@ -1243,8 +1243,8 @@ font_getvarnames(FontObject *self) {
         }
     }
 
+    PyMem_Free(list_names_filled);
     FT_Done_MM_Var(library, master);
-
     return list_names;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/encode.c b/src/encode.c
index 620774f67af..82aed77837c 100644
--- a/src/encode.c
+++ b/src/encode.c
@@ -723,8 +723,8 @@ PyImaging_LibTiffEncoderNew(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
 
         if (!is_core_tag) {
             PyObject *tag_type;
-            if (PyDict_GetItemRef(types, key, &tag_type) == 0) {
-                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_KeyError, "unknown tag type");
+            if (PyDict_GetItemRef(types, key, &tag_type) < 0) {
+                return NULL;  // Exception has been already set
             }
             if (tag_type) {
                 int type_int = PyLong_AsLong(tag_type);