diff --git a/lib/curlx/multibyte.h b/lib/curlx/multibyte.h
index c60ce258c9..8b698c1b73 100644
--- a/lib/curlx/multibyte.h
+++ b/lib/curlx/multibyte.h
@@ -78,6 +78,6 @@ typedef union {
 #endif /* UNICODE && _WIN32 */
 
 /* the purpose of this macro is to free() without being traced by memdebug */
-#define curlx_unicodefree(ptr) (free)(CURL_UNCONST(ptr))
+#define curlx_unicodefree(ptr) (free)(ptr)
 
 #endif /* HEADER_CURL_MULTIBYTE_H */
diff --git a/src/tool_getparam.c b/src/tool_getparam.c
index 337ad33280..0bb1329b54 100644
--- a/src/tool_getparam.c
+++ b/src/tool_getparam.c
@@ -3050,7 +3050,7 @@ ParameterError parse_args(int argc, argv_item_t argv[])
         if(i < (argc - 1)) {
           nextarg = convert_tchar_to_UTF8(argv[i + 1]);
           if(!nextarg) {
-            unicodefree(orig_opt);
+            unicodefree(CURL_UNCONST(orig_opt));
             return PARAM_NO_MEM;
           }
         }
@@ -3058,7 +3058,7 @@ ParameterError parse_args(int argc, argv_item_t argv[])
         result = getparameter(orig_opt, nextarg, &passarg, config,
                               CONFIG_MAX_LEVELS);
 
-        unicodefree(nextarg);
+        unicodefree(CURL_UNCONST(nextarg));
         config = global->last;
         if(result == PARAM_NEXT_OPERATION) {
           /* Reset result as PARAM_NEXT_OPERATION is only used here and not
@@ -3096,7 +3096,7 @@ ParameterError parse_args(int argc, argv_item_t argv[])
     }
 
     if(!result) {
-      unicodefree(orig_opt);
+      unicodefree(CURL_UNCONST(orig_opt));
       orig_opt = NULL;
     }
   }
@@ -3119,6 +3119,6 @@ ParameterError parse_args(int argc, argv_item_t argv[])
       helpf("%s", reason);
   }
 
-  unicodefree(orig_opt);
+  unicodefree(CURL_UNCONST(orig_opt));
   return result;
 }
diff --git a/src/tool_operate.c b/src/tool_operate.c
index 8949ce2a52..b969375422 100644
--- a/src/tool_operate.c
+++ b/src/tool_operate.c
@@ -2249,7 +2249,7 @@ CURLcode operate(int argc, argv_item_t argv[])
     }
   }
 
-  unicodefree(first_arg);
+  unicodefree(CURL_UNCONST(first_arg));
 
   if(!result) {
     /* Parse the command line arguments */