diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVBase.td b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVBase.td
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVBase.td
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVBase.td
@@ -2950,15 +2950,15 @@
 // SPIR-V OpTrait definitions
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
-// Check that an op can only be used within the scope of a FuncOp.
+// Check that an op can only be used within the scope of a function-like op.
 def InFunctionScope : PredOpTrait<
-  "op must appear in a 'func' block",
-  CPred<"($_op.getParentOfType<FuncOp>())">>;
+  "op must appear in a function-like op's block",
+  CPred<"isNestedInFunctionLikeOp($_op.getParentOp())">>;
 
-// Check that an op can only be used within the scope of a SPIR-V ModuleOp.
+// Check that an op can only be used within the scope of a module-like op.
 def InModuleScope : PredOpTrait<
-  "op must appear in a 'spv.module' block",
-  CPred<"llvm::isa_and_nonnull<spirv::ModuleOp>($_op.getParentOp())">>;
+  "op must appear in a module-like op's block",
+  CPred<"isDirectInModuleLikeOp($_op.getParentOp())">>;
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // SPIR-V opcode specification
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVOps.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVOps.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVOps.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/SPIRVOps.cpp
@@ -53,6 +53,24 @@
 // Common utility functions
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
+/// Returns true if the given op is a function-like op or nested in a
+/// function-like op without a module-like op in the middle.
+static bool isNestedInFunctionLikeOp(Operation *op) {
+  if (!op)
+    return false;
+  if (op->hasTrait<OpTrait::SymbolTable>())
+    return false;
+  if (op->hasTrait<OpTrait::FunctionLike>())
+    return true;
+  return isNestedInFunctionLikeOp(op->getParentOp());
+}
+
+/// Returns true if the given op is an module-like op that maintains a symbol
+/// table.
+static bool isDirectInModuleLikeOp(Operation *op) {
+  return op && op->hasTrait<OpTrait::SymbolTable>();
+}
+
 static LogicalResult extractValueFromConstOp(Operation *op,
                                              int32_t &indexValue) {
   auto constOp = dyn_cast<spirv::ConstantOp>(op);
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/control-flow-ops.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/control-flow-ops.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/control-flow-ops.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/control-flow-ops.mlir
@@ -497,8 +497,16 @@
 
 // -----
 
+// CHECK-LABEL: in_other_func_like_op
+func @in_other_func_like_op() {
+  // CHECK: spv.Return 
+  spv.Return
+}
+
+// -----
+
 "foo.function"() ({
-  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a 'func' block}}
+  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a function-like op's block}}
   spv.Return
 })  : () -> ()
 
@@ -562,7 +570,7 @@
 
 "foo.function"() ({
   %0 = spv.constant true
-  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a 'func' block}}
+  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a function-like op's block}}
   spv.ReturnValue %0 : i1
 })  : () -> ()
 
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/structure-ops.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/structure-ops.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/structure-ops.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/structure-ops.mlir
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@
 
 spv.module "Logical" "GLSL450" {
    func @do_nothing() -> () {
-     // expected-error @+1 {{'spv.EntryPoint' op failed to verify that op must appear in a 'spv.module' block}}
+     // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a module-like op's block}}
      spv.EntryPoint "GLCompute" @do_something
    }
 }
@@ -252,6 +252,14 @@
 
 // -----
 
+// Allow in other module-like ops
+module {
+  // CHECK: spv.globalVariable
+  spv.globalVariable @var0 : !spv.ptr<f32, Input>
+}
+
+// -----
+
 spv.module "Logical" "GLSL450" {
   // expected-error @+1 {{expected spv.ptr type}}
   spv.globalVariable @var0 : f32
@@ -275,7 +283,7 @@
 
 spv.module "Logical" "GLSL450" {
   func @foo() {
-    // expected-error @+1 {{op failed to verify that op must appear in a 'spv.module' block}}
+    // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a module-like op's block}}
     spv.globalVariable @var0 : !spv.ptr<f32, Input>
     spv.Return
   }
@@ -418,7 +426,7 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 func @module_end_not_in_module() -> () {
-  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a 'spv.module' block}}
+  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a module-like op's block}}
   spv._module_end
 }
 
@@ -519,7 +527,7 @@
 // -----
 
 func @use_in_function() -> () {
-  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a 'spv.module' block}}
+  // expected-error @+1 {{op must appear in a module-like op's block}}
   spv.specConstant @sc = false
   return
 }