diff --git a/polars/polars-sql/src/sql_expr.rs b/polars/polars-sql/src/sql_expr.rs
index 1ab8757806d7..1700d2e7b9ab 100644
--- a/polars/polars-sql/src/sql_expr.rs
+++ b/polars/polars-sql/src/sql_expr.rs
@@ -75,6 +75,12 @@ impl SqlExprVisitor<'_> {
                 list,
                 negated,
             } => self.visit_is_in(expr, list, *negated),
+            SqlExpr::IsDistinctFrom(e1, e2) => {
+                Ok(self.visit_expr(e1)?.neq_missing(self.visit_expr(e2)?))
+            }
+            SqlExpr::IsNotDistinctFrom(e1, e2) => {
+                Ok(self.visit_expr(e1)?.eq_missing(self.visit_expr(e2)?))
+            }
             SqlExpr::IsFalse(expr) => Ok(self.visit_expr(expr)?.eq(lit(false))),
             SqlExpr::IsNotFalse(expr) => Ok(self.visit_expr(expr)?.eq(lit(false)).not()),
             SqlExpr::IsNotNull(expr) => Ok(self.visit_expr(expr)?.is_not_null()),
@@ -171,6 +177,7 @@ impl SqlExprVisitor<'_> {
             SQLBinaryOperator::NotEq => left.eq(right).not(),
             SQLBinaryOperator::Or => left.or(right),
             SQLBinaryOperator::Plus => left + right,
+            SQLBinaryOperator::Spaceship => left.eq_missing(right),
             SQLBinaryOperator::StringConcat => {
                 left.cast(DataType::Utf8) + right.cast(DataType::Utf8)
             }
diff --git a/py-polars/tests/unit/test_sql.py b/py-polars/tests/unit/test_sql.py
index 7d199e517d4d..00f0051d11e8 100644
--- a/py-polars/tests/unit/test_sql.py
+++ b/py-polars/tests/unit/test_sql.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 import polars as pl
+import polars.selectors as cs
 from polars.testing import assert_frame_equal
 
 
@@ -79,6 +80,39 @@ def test_sql_div() -> None:
     )
 
 
+def test_sql_equal_not_equal() -> None:
+    # validate null-aware/unaware equality comparisons
+    df = pl.DataFrame({"a": [1, None, 3, 6, 5], "b": [1, None, 3, 4, None]})
+
+    with pl.SQLContext(frame_data=df) as ctx:
+        out = ctx.execute(
+            """
+            SELECT
+              -- not null-aware
+              (a = b)  as "1_eq_unaware",
+              (a <> b) as "2_neq_unaware",
+              (a != b) as "3_neq_unaware",
+              -- null-aware
+              (a <=> b) as "4_eq_aware",
+              (a IS NOT DISTINCT FROM b) as "5_eq_aware",
+              (a IS DISTINCT FROM b) as "6_neq_aware",
+            FROM frame_data
+            """
+        ).collect()
+
+    assert out.select(cs.contains("_aware").null_count().sum()).row(0) == (0, 0, 0)
+    assert out.select(cs.contains("_unaware").null_count().sum()).row(0) == (2, 2, 2)
+
+    assert out.to_dict(False) == {
+        "1_eq_unaware": [True, None, True, False, None],
+        "2_neq_unaware": [False, None, False, True, None],
+        "3_neq_unaware": [False, None, False, True, None],
+        "4_eq_aware": [True, True, True, False, False],
+        "5_eq_aware": [True, True, True, False, False],
+        "6_neq_aware": [False, False, False, True, True],
+    }
+
+
 def test_sql_groupby(foods_ipc_path: Path) -> None:
     lf = pl.scan_ipc(foods_ipc_path)