diff --git a/src/preProcessPattern.js b/src/preProcessPattern.js
index 76c3404b..787fd91b 100644
--- a/src/preProcessPattern.js
+++ b/src/preProcessPattern.js
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ export default function preProcessPattern(globalRef, pattern) {
     const {info, debug, warning, context,
         fileDependencies, contextDependencies, compilation} = globalRef;
 
-    pattern = _.cloneDeep(pattern);
+    pattern = typeof pattern === 'string' ? {
+        from: pattern
+    } : _.cloneDeep(pattern);
     pattern.to = pattern.to || '';
     pattern.context = pattern.context || context;
     if (!path.isAbsolute(pattern.context)) {
diff --git a/tests/index.js b/tests/index.js
index 22810fed..3c5b9ed0 100644
--- a/tests/index.js
+++ b/tests/index.js
@@ -1053,6 +1053,25 @@ describe('apply function', () => {
         });
     });
 
+    describe('with simple string patterns', () => {
+        it('can move multiple files', (done) => {
+            runEmit({
+                expectedAssetKeys: [
+                    'binextension.bin',
+                    'file.txt',
+                    'noextension'
+                ],
+                patterns: [
+                    'binextension.bin',
+                    'file.txt',
+                    'noextension'
+                ]
+            })
+            .then(done)
+            .catch(done);
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('options', () => {
         describe('ignore', () => {
             it('ignores files when from is a file', (done) => {