diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/gridspec.py b/lib/matplotlib/gridspec.py
index 5205f2315d03..204bd3f0f729 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/gridspec.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/gridspec.py
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ def __init__(self, nrows, ncols, figure=None,
             If not given, all columns will have the same width.
 
         height_ratios : array-like of length *nrows*, optional
-            Defines the relative heights of the rows. Each column gets a
+            Defines the relative heights of the rows. Each row gets a
             relative height of ``height_ratios[i] / sum(height_ratios)``.
             If not given, all rows will have the same height.