diff --git a/CHANGES/8968.doc.rst b/CHANGES/8968.doc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3420794586f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGES/8968.doc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clarified which timeout exceptions happen on which timeouts -- by :user:`Dreamsorcerer`.
diff --git a/docs/client_reference.rst b/docs/client_reference.rst
index 4117ab43e96..a84d63057f5 100644
--- a/docs/client_reference.rst
+++ b/docs/client_reference.rst
@@ -2293,17 +2293,20 @@ Connection errors
 
    Server operation timeout: read timeout, etc.
 
+   To catch all timeouts, including the ``total`` timeout, use
+   :exc:`asyncio.TimeoutError`.
+
    Derived from :exc:`ServerConnectionError` and :exc:`asyncio.TimeoutError`
 
 .. class:: ConnectionTimeoutError
 
-   Connection timeout on request: e.g. read timeout.
+   Connection timeout on ``connect`` and ``sock_connect`` timeouts.
 
    Derived from :exc:`ServerTimeoutError`
 
 .. class:: SocketTimeoutError
 
-   Reading from socket timeout.
+   Reading from socket timeout on ``sock_read`` timeout.
 
    Derived from :exc:`ServerTimeoutError`