diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 56bb70001e6..cc7c314dd4b 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #9649: HTML search: when objects have the same name but in different domains,
   return all of them as result instead of just one.
 * #9678: linkcheck: file extension was shown twice in warnings
+* Fix bug ``.. code::`` recognising ``:classes:`` option instead of ``:class:`` option.  The new behaviour is to only accept the ``:class:`` option.
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/directives/patches.py b/sphinx/directives/patches.py
index 9a3034daea5..428ae0ba4ee 100644
--- a/sphinx/directives/patches.py
+++ b/sphinx/directives/patches.py
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ class Code(SphinxDirective):
     def run(self) -> List[Node]:
         self.assert_has_content()
 
+        set_classes(self.options)
         code = '\n'.join(self.content)
         node = nodes.literal_block(code, code,
                                    classes=self.options.get('classes', []),