diff --git a/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst b/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
index f76f72b8f2d..81de1ad1eaa 100644
--- a/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
+++ b/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ tarballs or zipfiles.
 .. function:: make_zipfile(base_name, base_dir[, verbose=0, dry_run=0])
 
    Create a zip file from all files in and under *base_dir*.  The output zip file
-   will be named *base_dir* + :file:`.zip`.  Uses either the  :mod:`zipfile` Python
+   will be named *base_name* + :file:`.zip`.  Uses either the  :mod:`zipfile` Python
    module (if available) or the InfoZIP :file:`zip`  utility (if installed and
    found on the default search path).  If neither  tool is available, raises
    :exc:`DistutilsExecError`.   Returns the name of the output zip file.
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
index 16164c7f1f6..6dd0445dbe6 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def make_tarball(base_name, base_dir, compress="gzip", verbose=0, dry_run=0):
 def make_zipfile(base_name, base_dir, verbose=0, dry_run=0):
     """Create a zip file from all the files under 'base_dir'.
 
-    The output zip file will be named 'base_dir' + ".zip".  Uses either the
+    The output zip file will be named 'base_name' + ".zip".  Uses either the
     "zipfile" Python module (if available) or the InfoZIP "zip" utility
     (if installed and found on the default search path).  If neither tool is
     available, raises DistutilsExecError.  Returns the name of the output zip