diff --git a/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst b/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
index 53d7527c657..6eb87cb2f79 100644
--- a/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
+++ b/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ This module provides the following functions.
 
    .. method:: CCompiler.library_option(lib)
 
-      Return the compiler option to add *dir* to the list of libraries linked into the
+      Return the compiler option to add *lib* to the list of libraries linked into the
       shared library or executable.
 
 
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
index 911e84dd3b3..e93a27363f4 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/ccompiler.py
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ class CCompiler:
         raise NotImplementedError
 
     def library_option(self, lib):
-        """Return the compiler option to add 'dir' to the list of libraries
+        """Return the compiler option to add 'lib' to the list of libraries
         linked into the shared library or executable.
         """
         raise NotImplementedError