The present invention relates to an inductive proximity switch with an oscillator having a resonant circuit and an amplifier and with an evaluating and control device for evaluating an impedance of the resonant circuit and for outputting a switching signal. According to the invention, the proximity switch is characterized in that a frequency measuring device is provided for measuring the oscillation frequency of the oscillator and for eliminating ambiguities of the evaluation result of the evaluating and control device. The invention also relates to a method for operating an inductive proximity switch.