diff --git a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
index 14b12cd1c..1a79f6305 100644
--- a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
+++ b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
         Returns:
             Deferred: resolves with the http response object on success.
 
-            Fails with ``HTTPRequestException``: if we get an HTTP response
+            Fails with ``HttpResponseException``: if we get an HTTP response
                 code >= 300.
 
             Fails with ``NotRetryingDestination`` if we are not yet ready
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             Deferred: Succeeds when we get a 2xx HTTP response. The result
             will be the decoded JSON body.
 
-            Fails with ``HTTPRequestException`` if we get an HTTP response
+            Fails with ``HttpResponseException`` if we get an HTTP response
             code >= 300.
 
             Fails with ``NotRetryingDestination`` if we are not yet ready
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             Deferred: Succeeds when we get a 2xx HTTP response. The result
             will be the decoded JSON body.
 
-            Fails with ``HTTPRequestException`` if we get an HTTP response
+            Fails with ``HttpResponseException`` if we get an HTTP response
             code >= 300.
 
             Fails with ``NotRetryingDestination`` if we are not yet ready
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             Deferred: Succeeds when we get a 2xx HTTP response. The result
             will be the decoded JSON body.
 
-            Fails with ``HTTPRequestException`` if we get an HTTP response
+            Fails with ``HttpResponseException`` if we get an HTTP response
             code >= 300.
 
             Fails with ``NotRetryingDestination`` if we are not yet ready
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             Deferred: Succeeds when we get a 2xx HTTP response. The result
             will be the decoded JSON body.
 
-            Fails with ``HTTPRequestException`` if we get an HTTP response
+            Fails with ``HttpResponseException`` if we get an HTTP response
             code >= 300.
 
             Fails with ``NotRetryingDestination`` if we are not yet ready
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             Deferred: resolves with an (int,dict) tuple of the file length and
             a dict of the response headers.
 
-            Fails with ``HTTPRequestException`` if we get an HTTP response code
+            Fails with ``HttpResponseException`` if we get an HTTP response code
             >= 300
 
             Fails with ``NotRetryingDestination`` if we are not yet ready