diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 73d4a6d3..e3ce5a13 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ $ pipx install --suffix=@next 'vcspull' --pip-args '\--pre' --force
 
 <!-- Maintainers, insert changes / features for the next release here -->
 
+### Internal
+
+- `sync()`: Rename `repo_terms` to `repo_patterns` (#406)
+
 ## vcspull v1.15.8 (2022-10-16)
 
 ### CLI
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/__init__.py b/src/vcspull/cli/__init__.py
index 9939ca8a..42f526f5 100644
--- a/src/vcspull/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/src/vcspull/cli/__init__.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def cli(args=None):
         return
     elif args.subparser_name == "sync":
         sync(
-            repo_terms=args.repo_terms,
+            repo_patterns=args.repo_patterns,
             config=args.config,
             exit_on_error=args.exit_on_error,
             parser=sync_parser,
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py b/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
index a3a2e704..0f9d8966 100644
--- a/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
+++ b/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def create_sync_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> argparse.ArgumentP
         help="optional filepath to specify vcspull config",
     )
     parser.add_argument(
-        "repo_terms",
+        "repo_patterns",
         metavar="filter",
         nargs="*",
         help="patterns / terms of repos, accepts globs / fnmatch(3)",
@@ -51,14 +51,14 @@ def create_sync_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> argparse.ArgumentP
 
 
 def sync(
-    repo_terms,
+    repo_patterns,
     config,
     exit_on_error: bool,
     parser: t.Optional[
         argparse.ArgumentParser
     ] = None,  # optional so sync can be unit tested
 ) -> None:
-    if isinstance(repo_terms, list) and len(repo_terms) == 0:
+    if isinstance(repo_patterns, list) and len(repo_patterns) == 0:
         if parser is not None:
             parser.print_help()
         sys.exit(2)
@@ -69,14 +69,14 @@ def sync(
         configs = load_configs(find_config_files(include_home=True))
     found_repos = []
 
-    for repo_term in repo_terms:
+    for repo_pattern in repo_patterns:
         dir, vcs_url, name = None, None, None
-        if any(repo_term.startswith(n) for n in ["./", "/", "~", "$HOME"]):
-            dir = repo_term
-        elif any(repo_term.startswith(n) for n in ["http", "git", "svn", "hg"]):
-            vcs_url = repo_term
+        if any(repo_pattern.startswith(n) for n in ["./", "/", "~", "$HOME"]):
+            dir = repo_pattern
+        elif any(repo_pattern.startswith(n) for n in ["http", "git", "svn", "hg"]):
+            vcs_url = repo_pattern
         else:
-            name = repo_term
+            name = repo_pattern
 
         # collect the repos from the config files
         found = filter_repos(configs, dir=dir, vcs_url=vcs_url, name=name)