diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/misc/classifyTools.py b/Lib/fontTools/misc/classifyTools.py
index e1b7fd031..863a37428 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/misc/classifyTools.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/misc/classifyTools.py
@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@ class Classifier(object):
 	Main Classifier object, used to classify things into similar sets.
 	"""
 
-	def __init__(self, sorted=True):
+	def __init__(self, sort=True):
 
 		self._things = set() # set of all things known so far
 		self._sets = [] # list of class sets produced so far
 		self._mapping = {} # map from things to their class set
 		self._dirty = False
-		self._sorted = sorted
+		self._sort = sort
 
 	def add(self, set_of_things):
 		"""
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class Classifier(object):
 		sets = self._sets
 		self._sets = [s for s in sets if s]
 
-		if self._sorted:
+		if self._sort:
 			self._sets = sorted(self._sets, key=lambda s: (-len(s), s))
 
 		self._dirty = False
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class Classifier(object):
 		return self._sets
 
 
-def classify(list_of_sets, sorted=True):
+def classify(list_of_sets, sort=True):
 	"""
 	Takes a iterable of iterables (list of sets from here on; but any
 	iterable works.), and returns the smallest list of sets such that
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ def classify(list_of_sets, sorted=True):
 	any of the input sets, into similar classes, based on which sets
 	things are a member of.
 
-	If sorted=True, return class sets are sorted by decreasing size and
+	If sort=True, return class sets are sorted by decreasing size and
 	their natural sort order within each class size.  Otherwise, class
 	sets are returned in the order that they were identified, which is
 	generally not significant.
@@ -145,25 +145,25 @@ def classify(list_of_sets, sorted=True):
 	>>> classify([[1,2],[2,4,5]]) == (
 	...     [{4, 5}, {1}, {2}], {1: {1}, 2: {2}, 4: {4, 5}, 5: {4, 5}})
 	True
-	>>> classify([[1,2],[2,4,5]], sorted=False) == (
+	>>> classify([[1,2],[2,4,5]], sort=False) == (
 	...     [{1}, {4, 5}, {2}], {1: {1}, 2: {2}, 4: {4, 5}, 5: {4, 5}})
 	True
-	>>> classify([[1,2,9],[2,4,5]], sorted=False) == (
+	>>> classify([[1,2,9],[2,4,5]], sort=False) == (
 	...     [{1, 9}, {4, 5}, {2}], {1: {1, 9}, 2: {2}, 4: {4, 5}, 5: {4, 5},
 	...     9: {1, 9}})
 	True
-	>>> classify([[1,2,9,15],[2,4,5]], sorted=False) == (
+	>>> classify([[1,2,9,15],[2,4,5]], sort=False) == (
 	...     [{1, 9, 15}, {4, 5}, {2}], {1: {1, 9, 15}, 2: {2}, 4: {4, 5},
 	...     5: {4, 5}, 9: {1, 9, 15}, 15: {1, 9, 15}})
 	True
-	>>> classes, mapping = classify([[1,2,9,15],[2,4,5],[15,5]], sorted=False)
+	>>> classes, mapping = classify([[1,2,9,15],[2,4,5],[15,5]], sort=False)
 	>>> set([frozenset(c) for c in classes]) == set(
 	...     [frozenset(s) for s in ({1, 9}, {4}, {2}, {5}, {15})])
 	True
 	>>> mapping == {1: {1, 9}, 2: {2}, 4: {4}, 5: {5}, 9: {1, 9}, 15: {15}}
 	True
 	"""
-	classifier = Classifier(sorted=sorted)
+	classifier = Classifier(sort=sort)
 	classifier.update(list_of_sets)
 	return classifier.getClasses(), classifier.getMapping()