diff --git a/docs/internals.rst b/docs/internals.rst
index 5adb4cac..6bd3d41d 100644
--- a/docs/internals.rst
+++ b/docs/internals.rst
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ await .get_column_type(database, resource, column)
 ``column`` - string
     The name of the column.
 
-Returns a :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` instance with ``.config`` populated for the specified column, or ``None`` if no column type is assigned.
+Returns a :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` subclass instance with ``.config`` populated for the specified column, or ``None`` if no column type is assigned.
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
@@ -943,7 +943,7 @@ await .get_column_types(database, resource)
 ``resource`` - string
     The name of the table or view.
 
-Returns a dictionary mapping column names to :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` instances (with ``.config`` populated) for all columns that have assigned types on the given resource.
+Returns a dictionary mapping column names to :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` subclass instances (with ``.config`` populated) for all columns that have assigned types on the given resource.
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
diff --git a/docs/plugin_hooks.rst b/docs/plugin_hooks.rst
index 916f3449..69710bb6 100644
--- a/docs/plugin_hooks.rst
+++ b/docs/plugin_hooks.rst
@@ -503,8 +503,8 @@ Lets you customize the display of values within table cells in the HTML table vi
 ``request`` - :ref:`internals_request`
     The current request object
 
-``column_type`` - :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` instance or None
-    The :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` instance assigned to this column (with ``.config`` populated), or ``None`` if no column type is assigned. You can access ``column_type.name``, ``column_type.config``, etc.
+``column_type`` - :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` subclass instance or None
+    The :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` subclass instance assigned to this column (with ``.config`` populated), or ``None`` if no column type is assigned. You can access ``column_type.name``, ``column_type.config``, etc.
 
 If a column has a :ref:`column type <column_types>` assigned and that column type's ``render_cell`` method returns a non-``None`` value, it will take priority over this plugin hook.
 
@@ -999,7 +999,7 @@ The permission system then uses this query along with rules from plugins to dete
 register_column_types(datasette)
 --------------------------------
 
-Return a list of :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` **classes** (not instances) to register custom column types. Column types define how values in specific columns are rendered, validated, and transformed.
+Return a list of :ref:`ColumnType <column_types>` **subclasses** (not instances) to register custom column types. Column types define how values in specific columns are rendered, validated, and transformed.
 
 .. code-block:: python