diff --git a/R/slice.R b/R/slice.R
index 0c017d42e..c05c33eb1 100644
--- a/R/slice.R
+++ b/R/slice.R
@@ -235,7 +235,12 @@ vec_index <- function(x, i, ...) {
 #' @examples
 #' vec_init(1:10, 3)
 #' vec_init(Sys.Date(), 5)
+#'
+#' # The "missing" value for a data frame is a row that is entirely missing
 #' vec_init(mtcars, 2)
+#'
+#' # The "missing" value for a list is `NULL`
+#' vec_init(list(), 3)
 vec_init <- function(x, n = 1L) {
   .Call(ffi_init, x, n, environment())
 }
diff --git a/man/vec_init.Rd b/man/vec_init.Rd
index 4110c15f5..1e217ea76 100644
--- a/man/vec_init.Rd
+++ b/man/vec_init.Rd
@@ -24,5 +24,10 @@ Initialize a vector
 \examples{
 vec_init(1:10, 3)
 vec_init(Sys.Date(), 5)
+
+# The "missing" value for a data frame is a row that is entirely missing
 vec_init(mtcars, 2)
+
+# The "missing" value for a list is `NULL`
+vec_init(list(), 3)
 }