diff --git a/cmake/modules/DuneMPI.cmake b/cmake/modules/DuneMPI.cmake
index 54146d046a9a8d56b9dfa41874f1ef2466c36023..64e901e36e1eba08cb3ca964b1cf928ed2cbf8c7 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/DuneMPI.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/DuneMPI.cmake
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function(add_dune_mpi_flags)
     set(_prefix TARGET)
   endif()
   if(MPI_C_FOUND)
-    set_property(${_prefix} ${ADD_MPI_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS} APPEND PROPERTY COMPILE_FLAGS ${MPI_DUNE_COMPILE_FLAGS})
+    set_property(${_prefix} ${ADD_MPI_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS} APPEND PROPERTY COMPILE_OPTIONS ${MPI_DUNE_COMPILE_FLAGS})
     set_property(${_prefix} ${ADD_MPI_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS} APPEND PROPERTY COMPILE_DEFINITIONS ENABLE_MPI=1
       MPICH_SKIP_MPICXX MPIPP_H)
     if(NOT (ADD_MPI_SOURCE_ONLY OR ADD_MPI_OBJECT))