diff --git a/Python/initconfig.c b/Python/initconfig.c
index 1fcc3600aa4666..82b42ab5c4ad96 100644
--- a/Python/initconfig.c
+++ b/Python/initconfig.c
@@ -1050,7 +1050,7 @@ _PyConfig_AsDict(const PyConfig *config)
 static PyObject*
 config_dict_get(PyObject *dict, const char *name)
 {
-    PyObject *item = PyDict_GetItemString(dict, name);
+    PyObject *item = _PyDict_GetItemStringWithError(dict, name);
     if (item == NULL) {
         PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError, "missing config key: %s", name);
         return NULL;