diff --git a/Modules/_decimal/_decimal.c b/Modules/_decimal/_decimal.c
index 933b3f575a4541..a6e365d453659f 100644
--- a/Modules/_decimal/_decimal.c
+++ b/Modules/_decimal/_decimal.c
@@ -2242,7 +2242,7 @@ PyDecType_FromFloatExact(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *v,
     }
     if (!PyFloat_Check(v)) {
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
-            "argument must be int of float");
+            "argument must be int or float");
         return NULL;
     }