diff --git a/rust/datafusion/src/logical_plan/mod.rs b/rust/datafusion/src/logical_plan/mod.rs
index 7a060f286fd21..e69e6ef508c91 100644
--- a/rust/datafusion/src/logical_plan/mod.rs
+++ b/rust/datafusion/src/logical_plan/mod.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ use crate::datasource::parquet::ParquetTable;
 use crate::datasource::TableProvider;
 use crate::error::{ExecutionError, Result};
 use crate::{
-    physical_plan::{expressions::binary_operator_data_type, functions},
+    physical_plan::{
+        expressions::binary_operator_data_type, functions, type_coercion::can_coerce_from,
+    },
     sql::parser::FileType,
 };
 use arrow::record_batch::RecordBatch;
@@ -1036,59 +1038,6 @@ impl fmt::Debug for LogicalPlan {
     }
 }
 
-/// Verify a given type cast can be performed
-pub fn can_coerce_from(type_into: &DataType, type_from: &DataType) -> bool {
-    use self::DataType::*;
-    match type_into {
-        Int8 => match type_from {
-            Int8 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        Int16 => match type_from {
-            Int8 | Int16 | UInt8 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        Int32 => match type_from {
-            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | UInt8 | UInt16 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        Int64 => match type_from {
-            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64 | UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        UInt8 => match type_from {
-            UInt8 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        UInt16 => match type_from {
-            UInt8 | UInt16 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        UInt32 => match type_from {
-            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        UInt64 => match type_from {
-            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 | UInt64 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        Float32 => match type_from {
-            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64 => true,
-            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 | UInt64 => true,
-            Float32 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        Float64 => match type_from {
-            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64 => true,
-            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 | UInt64 => true,
-            Float32 | Float64 => true,
-            _ => false,
-        },
-        Utf8 => true,
-        _ => false,
-    }
-}
-
 /// Builder for logical plans
 pub struct LogicalPlanBuilder {
     plan: LogicalPlan,
diff --git a/rust/datafusion/src/physical_plan/type_coercion.rs b/rust/datafusion/src/physical_plan/type_coercion.rs
index e27a413df9c68..8835ea0e8db2f 100644
--- a/rust/datafusion/src/physical_plan/type_coercion.rs
+++ b/rust/datafusion/src/physical_plan/type_coercion.rs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ use arrow::datatypes::{DataType, Schema};
 
 use super::{functions::Signature, PhysicalExpr};
 use crate::error::{ExecutionError, Result};
-use crate::physical_plan::expressions::{cast, numerical_coercion};
+use crate::physical_plan::expressions::cast;
 
 /// Returns expressions constructed by casting `expressions` to types compatible with `signatures`.
 pub fn coerce(
@@ -101,10 +101,9 @@ fn maybe_data_types(
         if current_type == valid_type {
             new_type.push(current_type.clone())
         } else {
-            // attempt to coerce using numerical coercion
-            // todo: also try string coercion.
-            if let Some(cast_to_type) = numerical_coercion(&current_type, valid_type) {
-                new_type.push(cast_to_type)
+            // attempt to coerce
+            if can_coerce_from(valid_type, &current_type) {
+                new_type.push(valid_type.clone())
             } else {
                 // not possible
                 return None;
@@ -114,6 +113,59 @@ fn maybe_data_types(
     Some(new_type)
 }
 
+/// Verify that the type cast can be performed
+pub fn can_coerce_from(type_into: &DataType, type_from: &DataType) -> bool {
+    use self::DataType::*;
+    match type_into {
+        Int8 => match type_from {
+            Int8 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        Int16 => match type_from {
+            Int8 | Int16 | UInt8 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        Int32 => match type_from {
+            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | UInt8 | UInt16 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        Int64 => match type_from {
+            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64 | UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        UInt8 => match type_from {
+            UInt8 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        UInt16 => match type_from {
+            UInt8 | UInt16 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        UInt32 => match type_from {
+            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        UInt64 => match type_from {
+            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 | UInt64 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        Float32 => match type_from {
+            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64 => true,
+            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 | UInt64 => true,
+            Float32 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        Float64 => match type_from {
+            Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64 => true,
+            UInt8 | UInt16 | UInt32 | UInt64 => true,
+            Float32 | Float64 => true,
+            _ => false,
+        },
+        Utf8 => true,
+        _ => false,
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -217,6 +269,12 @@ mod tests {
                 Signature::VariadicEqual,
                 vec![DataType::Float32, DataType::Float32],
             )?,
+            // common type is u64
+            case(
+                vec![DataType::UInt32, DataType::UInt64],
+                Signature::Variadic(vec![DataType::UInt32, DataType::UInt64]),
+                vec![DataType::UInt64, DataType::UInt64],
+            )?,
         ];
 
         for case in cases {