diff --git a/wp-includes/meta.php b/wp-includes/meta.php
index 849e4339b..5281a5a97 100644
--- a/wp-includes/meta.php
+++ b/wp-includes/meta.php
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ function update_meta_cache($meta_type, $object_ids) {
 	return $cache;
 }
 
-/*
+/**
  * Given a meta query, generates SQL clauses to be appended to a main query
  *
  * @since 3.1.0
diff --git a/wp-includes/user.php b/wp-includes/user.php
index 77c605c72..64ed54282 100644
--- a/wp-includes/user.php
+++ b/wp-includes/user.php
@@ -412,6 +412,8 @@ class WP_User_Query {
 		// sorting
 		if ( in_array( $qv['orderby'], array('email', 'url', 'registered') ) ) {
 			$orderby = 'user_' . $qv['orderby'];
+		} elseif ( in_array( $qv['orderby'], array('user_email', 'user_url', 'user_registered') ) ) {
+			$orderby = $qv['orderby'];
 		} elseif ( 'name' == $qv['orderby'] || 'display_name' == $qv['orderby'] ) {
 			$orderby = 'display_name';
 		} elseif ( 'post_count' == $qv['orderby'] ) {