diff --git a/Lib/urllib/request.py b/Lib/urllib/request.py
index 65a3aeb72f5..8a7d048dc5c 100644
--- a/Lib/urllib/request.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib/request.py
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ def build_opener(*handlers):
     skip = set()
     for klass in default_classes:
         for check in handlers:
-            if instance(check, type):
+            if isinstance(check, type):
                 if issubclass(check, klass):
                     skip.add(klass)
             elif isinstance(check, klass):