diff --git a/Doc/library/cgi.rst b/Doc/library/cgi.rst
index f8263654c1b8a0..a2957ba5a68ad0 100644
--- a/Doc/library/cgi.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/cgi.rst
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ Support module for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts.
 This module defines a number of utilities for use by CGI scripts written in
 Python.
 
-The ``maxlen`` variable can be set to an integer indicating the maximum size
-of a POST request. POST requests larger than this size will result in a
+The global variable ``maxlen`` can be set to an integer indicating the maximum
+size of a POST request. POST requests larger than this size will result in a
 :exc:`ValueError` being raised during parsing. The default value of this
 variable is ``0``, meaning the request size is unlimited.
 
diff --git a/Lib/cgi.py b/Lib/cgi.py
index 1f510d9b680dcd..22897a14a9c122 100755
--- a/Lib/cgi.py
+++ b/Lib/cgi.py
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@
 This module defines a number of utilities for use by CGI scripts
 written in Python.
 
-The maxlen variable can be set to an integer indicating the maximum size of a
-POST request. POST requests larger than this size will result in a ValueError
-being raised during parsing. The default value of this variable is 0, meaning
-the request size is unlimited.
+The global variable maxlen can be set to an integer indicating the maximum size
+of a POST request. POST requests larger than this size will result in a
+ValueError being raised during parsing. The default value of this variable is 0,
+meaning the request size is unlimited.
 """
 
 # History