diff --git a/scripts/check b/scripts/check
index 23d50c7c..5a38477c 100755
--- a/scripts/check
+++ b/scripts/check
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ export SOURCE_FILES="starlette tests"
 
 set -x
 
+./scripts/sync-version
 ${PREFIX}isort --check --diff --project=starlette $SOURCE_FILES
 ${PREFIX}black --check --diff $SOURCE_FILES
 ${PREFIX}flake8 $SOURCE_FILES
diff --git a/scripts/sync-version b/scripts/sync-version
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..67e9ef27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/sync-version
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+
+SEMVER_REGEX="([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)(?:-([0-9A-Za-z-]+(?:\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*))?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z-]+)?"
+CHANGELOG_VERSION=$(grep -o -E $SEMVER_REGEX docs/release-notes.md | head -1)
+VERSION=$(grep -o -E $SEMVER_REGEX starlette/__init__.py | head -1)
+if [ "$CHANGELOG_VERSION" != "$VERSION" ]; then
+    echo "Version in changelog does not match version in starlette/__init__.py!"
+    exit 1
+fi