diff --git a/Lib/configparser.py b/Lib/configparser.py
index f28aba7c3db7b6..3a3b6d26f28fee 100644
--- a/Lib/configparser.py
+++ b/Lib/configparser.py
@@ -991,6 +991,8 @@ def items(self, section=_UNSET, raw=False, vars=None):
         # Update with the entry specific variables
         if vars:
             for key, value in vars.items():
+                if value is not None:
+                    value = str(value)
                 d[self.optionxform(key)] = value
         value_getter = lambda option: self._interpolation.before_get(
             self, section, option, d[option], d
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_configparser.py b/Lib/test/test_configparser.py
index f24d7b869991c2..394ffb5ad4aee7 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_configparser.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_configparser.py
@@ -904,6 +904,21 @@ def check_items_config(self, expected):
         with self.assertRaises(configparser.NoSectionError):
             cf.items("no such section")
 
+    def test_items_non_string_vars(self):
+        cf = self.newconfig(defaults={'default': 'original'})
+        cf.read_dict({'section': {'value': 'original'}})
+        for value in (42, 0, False):
+            for raw in (False, True):
+                with self.subTest(value=value, raw=raw):
+                    self.assertEqual(
+                        dict(cf.items('section', raw=raw, vars={
+                            'default': value,
+                            'VALUE': value,
+                            'extra': value,
+                        })),
+                        {'default': str(value), 'value': str(value)},
+                    )
+
     def test_popitem(self):
         cf = self.fromstring(
             f"""
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-26-06-10-00.gh-issue-160684.vArs42.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-26-06-10-00.gh-issue-160684.vArs42.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d4a57c66aea3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-26-06-10-00.gh-issue-160684.vArs42.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix :meth:`configparser.ConfigParser.items` to convert non-``None`` values
+passed in *vars* to strings, consistently with :meth:`~configparser.ConfigParser.get`.