diff --git a/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/creation.py b/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/creation.py
index d0a5f82033..27332b9b57 100644
--- a/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/creation.py
+++ b/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/creation.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class SpatiaLiteCreation(DatabaseCreation):
 
         self.connection.close()
         self.connection.settings_dict["NAME"] = test_database_name
+        self.connection.ops.confirm_spatial_components_versions()
 
         # Need to load the SpatiaLite initialization SQL before running `syncdb`.
         self.load_spatialite_sql()
diff --git a/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/operations.py b/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/operations.py
index 60fe0a8069..80f05ef076 100644
--- a/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/operations.py
+++ b/django/contrib/gis/db/backends/spatialite/operations.py
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ class SpatiaLiteOperations(DatabaseOperations, BaseSpatialOperations):
     def __init__(self, connection):
         super(DatabaseOperations, self).__init__(connection)
 
+        # Creating the GIS terms dictionary.
+        gis_terms = ['isnull']
+        gis_terms += self.geometry_functions.keys()
+        self.gis_terms = dict([(term, None) for term in gis_terms])
+
+    def confirm_spatial_components_versions(self):
         # Determine the version of the SpatiaLite library.
         try:
             vtup = self.spatialite_version_tuple()
@@ -129,11 +135,6 @@ class SpatiaLiteOperations(DatabaseOperations, BaseSpatialOperations):
                                        'SQL loaded on this database?' %
                                        (self.connection.settings_dict['NAME'], msg))
 
-        # Creating the GIS terms dictionary.
-        gis_terms = ['isnull']
-        gis_terms += list(self.geometry_functions)
-        self.gis_terms = dict([(term, None) for term in gis_terms])
-
         if version >= (2, 4, 0):
             # Spatialite 2.4.0-RC4 added AsGML and AsKML, however both
             # RC2 (shipped in popular Debian/Ubuntu packages) and RC4