diff --git a/mlx_lm/utils.py b/mlx_lm/utils.py
index ef3d266b9..da498567e 100644
--- a/mlx_lm/utils.py
+++ b/mlx_lm/utils.py
@@ -458,6 +458,7 @@ def load(
     lazy: bool = False,
     return_config: bool = False,
     revision: Optional[str] = None,
+    strict: bool = True,
 ) -> Union[
     Tuple[nn.Module, TokenizerWrapper],
     Tuple[nn.Module, TokenizerWrapper, Dict[str, Any]],
@@ -478,6 +479,7 @@ def load(
             when needed. Default: ``False``
         return_config (bool: If ``True`` return the model config as the last item..
         revision (str, optional): A revision id which can be a branch name, a tag, or a commit hash.
+        strict (bool): Whether to enforce strict weight checking. Default: ``True``.
     Returns:
         Union[Tuple[nn.Module, TokenizerWrapper], Tuple[nn.Module, TokenizerWrapper, Dict[str, Any]]]:
             A tuple containing the loaded model, tokenizer and, if requested, the model config.
@@ -488,7 +490,7 @@ def load(
     """
     model_path = _download(path_or_hf_repo, revision=revision)
 
-    model, config = load_model(model_path, lazy, model_config=model_config)
+    model, config = load_model(model_path, lazy, strict=strict, model_config=model_config)
     if adapter_path is not None:
         model = load_adapters(model, adapter_path)
         model.eval()