diff --git a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
index f503f4dfb41..e93d121a5fc 100644
--- a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
@@ -1151,10 +1151,10 @@ their parent process exits.  The manager classes are defined in the
    *address* is the address on which the manager process listens for new
    connections.  If *address* is ``None`` then an arbitrary one is chosen.
 
-   *authkey* is the authentication key which will be used to check the validity
-   of incoming connections to the server process.  If *authkey* is ``None`` then
-   ``current_process().authkey``.  Otherwise *authkey* is used and it
-   must be a string.
+   *authkey* is the authentication key which will be used to check the
+   validity of incoming connections to the server process.  If
+   *authkey* is ``None`` then ``current_process().authkey`` is used.
+   Otherwise *authkey* is used and it must be a byte string.
 
    .. method:: start([initializer[, initargs]])
 
@@ -1168,7 +1168,7 @@ their parent process exits.  The manager classes are defined in the
       :meth:`serve_forever` method::
 
       >>> from multiprocessing.managers import BaseManager
-      >>> manager = BaseManager(address=('', 50000), authkey='abc')
+      >>> manager = BaseManager(address=('', 50000), authkey=b'abc')
       >>> server = manager.get_server()
       >>> server.serve_forever()
 
@@ -1179,7 +1179,7 @@ their parent process exits.  The manager classes are defined in the
       Connect a local manager object to a remote manager process::
 
       >>> from multiprocessing.managers import BaseManager
-      >>> m = BaseManager(address=('127.0.0.1', 5000), authkey='abc')
+      >>> m = BaseManager(address=('127.0.0.1', 5000), authkey=b'abc')
       >>> m.connect()
 
    .. method:: shutdown()
@@ -1380,7 +1380,7 @@ remote clients can access::
    >>> queue = queue.Queue()
    >>> class QueueManager(BaseManager): pass
    >>> QueueManager.register('get_queue', callable=lambda:queue)
-   >>> m = QueueManager(address=('', 50000), authkey='abracadabra')
+   >>> m = QueueManager(address=('', 50000), authkey=b'abracadabra')
    >>> s = m.get_server()
    >>> s.serve_forever()
 
@@ -1389,7 +1389,7 @@ One client can access the server as follows::
    >>> from multiprocessing.managers import BaseManager
    >>> class QueueManager(BaseManager): pass
    >>> QueueManager.register('get_queue')
-   >>> m = QueueManager(address=('foo.bar.org', 50000), authkey='abracadabra')
+   >>> m = QueueManager(address=('foo.bar.org', 50000), authkey=b'abracadabra')
    >>> m.connect()
    >>> queue = m.get_queue()
    >>> queue.put('hello')
@@ -1399,7 +1399,7 @@ Another client can also use it::
    >>> from multiprocessing.managers import BaseManager
    >>> class QueueManager(BaseManager): pass
    >>> QueueManager.register('get_queue')
-   >>> m = QueueManager(address=('foo.bar.org', 50000), authkey='abracadabra')
+   >>> m = QueueManager(address=('foo.bar.org', 50000), authkey=b'abracadabra')
    >>> m.connect()
    >>> queue = m.get_queue()
    >>> queue.get()
@@ -1423,7 +1423,7 @@ client to access it remotely::
     >>> class QueueManager(BaseManager): pass
     ...
     >>> QueueManager.register('get_queue', callable=lambda: queue)
-    >>> m = QueueManager(address=('', 50000), authkey='abracadabra')
+    >>> m = QueueManager(address=('', 50000), authkey=b'abracadabra')
     >>> s = m.get_server()
     >>> s.serve_forever()
 
@@ -1768,9 +1768,9 @@ authentication* using the :mod:`hmac` module.
    generally be omitted since it can usually be inferred from the format of
    *address*. (See :ref:`multiprocessing-address-formats`)
 
-   If *authenticate* is ``True`` or *authkey* is a string then digest
+   If *authenticate* is ``True`` or *authkey* is a byte string then digest
    authentication is used.  The key used for authentication will be either
-   *authkey* or ``current_process().authkey)`` if *authkey* is ``None``.
+   *authkey* or ``current_process().authkey`` if *authkey* is ``None``.
    If authentication fails then :exc:`AuthenticationError` is raised.  See
    :ref:`multiprocessing-auth-keys`.
 
@@ -1805,8 +1805,8 @@ authentication* using the :mod:`hmac` module.
    If *authenticate* is ``True`` (``False`` by default) or *authkey* is not
    ``None`` then digest authentication is used.
 
-   If *authkey* is a string then it will be used as the authentication key;
-   otherwise it must be *None*.
+   If *authkey* is a byte string then it will be used as the
+   authentication key; otherwise it must be *None*.
 
    If *authkey* is ``None`` and *authenticate* is ``True`` then
    ``current_process().authkey`` is used as the authentication key.  If
@@ -1919,12 +1919,13 @@ unpickled.  Unfortunately unpickling data from an untrusted source is a security
 risk.  Therefore :class:`Listener` and :func:`Client` use the :mod:`hmac` module
 to provide digest authentication.
 
-An authentication key is a string which can be thought of as a password: once a
-connection is established both ends will demand proof that the other knows the
-authentication key.  (Demonstrating that both ends are using the same key does
-**not** involve sending the key over the connection.)
+An authentication key is a byte string which can be thought of as a
+password: once a connection is established both ends will demand proof
+that the other knows the authentication key.  (Demonstrating that both
+ends are using the same key does **not** involve sending the key over
+the connection.)
 
-If authentication is requested but do authentication key is specified then the
+If authentication is requested but no authentication key is specified then the
 return value of ``current_process().authkey`` is used (see
 :class:`~multiprocessing.Process`).  This value will automatically inherited by
 any :class:`~multiprocessing.Process` object that the current process creates.