diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/clike.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/clike.py
index 9de715c97..c21fbd01c 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/clike.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/clike.py
@@ -385,10 +385,10 @@ class CLikeCompiler(Compiler):
         return self.compiles(t.format(**fargs), env, extra_args=extra_args,
                              dependencies=dependencies)
 
-    def _get_basic_compiler_args(self, env: 'Environment', mode: str) -> T.Tuple[T.List[str], T.List[str]]:
+    def _get_basic_compiler_args(self, env: 'Environment', mode: CompileCheckMode) -> T.Tuple[T.List[str], T.List[str]]:
         cargs = []  # type: T.List[str]
         largs = []  # type: T.List[str]
-        if mode == 'link':
+        if mode is CompileCheckMode.LINK:
             # Sometimes we need to manually select the CRT to use with MSVC.
             # One example is when trying to do a compiler check that involves
             # linking with static libraries since MSVC won't select a CRT for
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ class CLikeCompiler(Compiler):
         cleaned_sys_args = self.remove_linkerlike_args(sys_args)
         cargs += cleaned_sys_args
 
-        if mode == 'link':
+        if mode is CompileCheckMode.LINK:
             ld_value = env.lookup_binary_entry(self.for_machine, self.language + '_ld')
             if ld_value is not None:
                 largs += self.use_linker_args(ld_value[0])
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@ class CLikeCompiler(Compiler):
         else:
             # TODO: we want to do this in the caller
             extra_args = mesonlib.listify(extra_args)
-        extra_args = mesonlib.listify([e(mode) if callable(e) else e for e in extra_args])
+        extra_args = mesonlib.listify([e(mode.value) if callable(e) else e for e in extra_args])
 
         if dependencies is None:
             dependencies = []
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ class CLikeCompiler(Compiler):
         for d in dependencies:
             # Add compile flags needed by dependencies
             cargs += d.get_compile_args()
-            if mode == 'link':
+            if mode is CompileCheckMode.LINK:
                 # Add link flags needed to find dependencies
                 largs += d.get_link_args()
 
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ class CLikeCompiler(Compiler):
     def _build_wrapper(self, code: str, env: 'Environment',
                        extra_args: T.Union[None, arglist.CompilerArgs, T.List[str]] = None,
                        dependencies: T.Optional[T.List['Dependency']] = None,
-                       mode: str = CompileCheckMode.COMPILE, want_output: bool = False,
+                       mode: str = 'compile', want_output: bool = False,
                        disable_cache: bool = False,
                        temp_dir: str = None) -> T.Iterator[T.Optional[compilers.CompileResult]]:
         args = self._get_compiler_check_args(env, extra_args, dependencies, CompileCheckMode(mode))
diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/intel.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/intel.py
index 5bb55ffa1..1fc55fcaf 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/intel.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/intel.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import os
 import typing as T
 
 from ... import mesonlib
+from ..compilers import CompileCheckMode
 from .gnu import GnuLikeCompiler
 from .visualstudio import VisualStudioLikeCompiler
 
@@ -99,13 +100,8 @@ class IntelGnuLikeCompiler(GnuLikeCompiler):
         else:
             return ['-openmp']
 
-    def compiles(self, code: str, env: 'Environment', *,
-                 extra_args: T.Union[None, T.List[str], 'CompilerArgs'] = None,
-                 dependencies: T.Optional[T.List['Dependency']] = None,
-                 mode: str = 'compile',
-                 disable_cache: bool = False) -> T.Tuple[bool, bool]:
-        extra_args = extra_args.copy() if extra_args is not None else []
-        extra_args += [
+    def get_compiler_check_args(self, mode: CompileCheckMode) -> T.List[str]:
+        extra_args = [
             '-diag-error', '10006',  # ignoring unknown option
             '-diag-error', '10148',  # Option not supported
             '-diag-error', '10155',  # ignoring argument required
@@ -113,7 +109,7 @@ class IntelGnuLikeCompiler(GnuLikeCompiler):
             '-diag-error', '10157',  # Ignoring argument of the wrong type
             '-diag-error', '10158',  # Argument must be separate. Can be hit by trying an option like -foo-bar=foo when -foo=bar is a valid option but -foo-bar isn't
         ]
-        return super().compiles(code, env, extra_args=extra_args, dependencies=dependencies, mode=mode, disable_cache=disable_cache)
+        return super().get_compiler_check_args(mode) + extra_args
 
     def get_profile_generate_args(self) -> T.List[str]:
         return ['-prof-gen=threadsafe']
@@ -157,15 +153,10 @@ class IntelVisualStudioLikeCompiler(VisualStudioLikeCompiler):
         super().__init__(target)
         self.id = 'intel-cl'
 
-    def compiles(self, code: str, env: 'Environment', *,
-                 extra_args: T.Union[None, T.List[str], 'CompilerArgs'] = None,
-                 dependencies: T.Optional[T.List['Dependency']] = None,
-                 mode: str = 'compile',
-                 disable_cache: bool = False) -> T.Tuple[bool, bool]:
-        # This covers a case that .get('foo', []) doesn't, that extra_args is
-        if mode != 'link':
-            extra_args = extra_args.copy() if extra_args is not None else []
-            extra_args.extend([
+    def get_compiler_check_args(self, mode: CompileCheckMode) -> T.List[str]:
+        args = super().get_compiler_check_args(mode)
+        if mode is not CompileCheckMode.LINK:
+            args.extend([
                 '/Qdiag-error:10006',  # ignoring unknown option
                 '/Qdiag-error:10148',  # Option not supported
                 '/Qdiag-error:10155',  # ignoring argument required
@@ -173,7 +164,7 @@ class IntelVisualStudioLikeCompiler(VisualStudioLikeCompiler):
                 '/Qdiag-error:10157',  # Ignoring argument of the wrong type
                 '/Qdiag-error:10158',  # Argument must be separate. Can be hit by trying an option like -foo-bar=foo when -foo=bar is a valid option but -foo-bar isn't
             ])
-        return super().compiles(code, env, extra_args=extra_args, dependencies=dependencies, mode=mode, disable_cache=disable_cache)
+        return args
 
     def get_toolset_version(self) -> T.Optional[str]:
         # Avoid circular dependencies....