diff --git a/flax/core/scope.py b/flax/core/scope.py
index 910fd42c32..f9f98ccd09 100644
--- a/flax/core/scope.py
+++ b/flax/core/scope.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
     Tuple,
     TypeVar,
     Union,
+    cast,
     overload,
 )
 
@@ -892,7 +893,11 @@ def variable(
         raise errors.ScopeVariableNotFoundError(name, col, self.path_text)
       init_value = init_fn(*init_args)
       self.put_variable(col, name, init_value)
-    return Variable(self, col, name, unbox=unbox)
+    # cast to make static analyzers happy
+    return cast(
+        Union[Variable[T], Variable[meta.AxisMetadata[T]]],
+        Variable(self, col, name, unbox=unbox),
+    )
 
   @overload
   def param(self, name: str, init_fn: Callable[..., T], *init_args) -> T:
diff --git a/flax/linen/attention.py b/flax/linen/attention.py
index 3ecdc72ff1..2c6400be07 100644
--- a/flax/linen/attention.py
+++ b/flax/linen/attention.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 """Attention core modules for Flax."""
 
 import functools
-from typing import (Any, Callable, Optional, Tuple)
+from typing import (Any, Callable, Optional, Tuple, Union)
 from flax.linen.dtypes import promote_dtype
 
 from flax.linen import initializers
@@ -334,7 +334,11 @@ def __call__(
           )
         # update key, value caches with our new 1d spatial slices
         cur_index = cache_index.value
-        indices = (0,) * len(batch_dims) + (cur_index, 0, 0)
+        indices: tuple[Union[int, jax.Array], ...] = (0,) * len(batch_dims) + (
+            cur_index,
+            0,
+            0,
+        )
         key = lax.dynamic_update_slice(cached_key.value, key, indices)
         value = lax.dynamic_update_slice(cached_value.value, value, indices)
         cached_key.value = key