diff --git a/scanpy/preprocessing/_docs.py b/scanpy/preprocessing/_docs.py
index 9052721927..0060da3df9 100644
--- a/scanpy/preprocessing/_docs.py
+++ b/scanpy/preprocessing/_docs.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
     E.g. "pct_counts_in_top_50_genes". Cumulative percentage of counts
     for 50 most expressed genes in a cell.
 `total_{expr_type}_{qc_var}` – for `qc_var` in `qc_vars`
-    E.g. "total_counts_mito". Total number of counts for variabes in
+    E.g. "total_counts_mito". Total number of counts for variables in
     `qc_vars`.
 `pct_{expr_type}_{qc_var}` – for `qc_var` in `qc_vars`
     E.g. "pct_counts_mito". Proportion of total counts for a cell which