diff --git a/Modules/_fileio.c b/Modules/_fileio.c
index d7f78936715..b33b745ab1b 100644
--- a/Modules/_fileio.c
+++ b/Modules/_fileio.c
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ fileio_init(PyObject *oself, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 		self->closefd = 1;
 		if (!closefd) {
 			PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
-                            "Cannot use closefd=True with file name");
+                            "Cannot use closefd=False with file name");
 			goto error;
 		}