diff --git a/drivers/vcnl40x0/Makefile.include b/drivers/vcnl40x0/Makefile.include
index fdfd6ed498..1f19c95852 100644
--- a/drivers/vcnl40x0/Makefile.include
+++ b/drivers/vcnl40x0/Makefile.include
@@ -1,2 +1,7 @@
+# include variants of VCNL40x0 drivers as pseudo modules
+PSEUDOMODULES += vcnl4010
+PSEUDOMODULES += vcnl4020
+PSEUDOMODULES += vcnl4040
+
 USEMODULE_INCLUDES_vcnl40x0 := $(LAST_MAKEFILEDIR)/include
 USEMODULE_INCLUDES += $(USEMODULE_INCLUDES_vcnl40x0)