diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapper.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapper.java
index 1b932e951..be19f0e35 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapper.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapper.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2011-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2011-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@ public class QueryMapper {
 		 * @since 1.8
 		 */
 		public boolean isSample() {
-			return "$sample".equalsIgnoreCase(key);
+			return "$example".equalsIgnoreCase(key);
 		}
 
 		public boolean hasIterableValue() {
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/query/Criteria.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/query/Criteria.java
index dd843e898..e67d6b589 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/query/Criteria.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/query/Criteria.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2010-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2010-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ public class Criteria implements CriteriaDefinition {
 	 */
 	public Criteria alike(Example<?> sample) {
 
-		criteria.put("$sample", sample);
+		criteria.put("$example", sample);
 		this.criteriaChain.add(this);
 		return this;
 	}
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapperUnitTests.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapperUnitTests.java
index 07353d7e1..787d9dc92 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapperUnitTests.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/convert/QueryMapperUnitTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2011-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2011-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
 import org.mockito.runners.MockitoJUnitRunner;
-
 import org.springframework.data.annotation.Id;
 import org.springframework.data.domain.Sort;
 import org.springframework.data.domain.Sort.Direction;
@@ -140,6 +139,14 @@ public class QueryMapperUnitTests {
 		assertThat(dbObject.get("$ne"), is(instanceOf(ObjectId.class)));
 	}
 
+	@Test // DATAMONGO-2023
+	public void translates$SampleCorrectly() {
+
+		DBObject dbObject = new BasicDBObject("$sample", new BasicDBObject("size", 1));
+		DBObject result = mapper.getMappedObject(dbObject, context.getPersistentEntity(Sample.class));
+		assertThat((BasicDBObject) result.get("$sample"), is(new BasicDBObject("size", 1)));
+	}
+
 	@Test // DATAMONGO-326
 	public void handlesEnumsCorrectly() {
 		Query query = query(where("foo").is(Enum.INSTANCE));