diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 56bb70001e6..6802ba2e79c 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::`` not recognising ``:classes:`` option instead of ``:class:`` option.  The new behaviour is only to accept ``:class:``.
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/directives/patches.py b/sphinx/directives/patches.py
index 9a3034daea5..f2cb631f07e 100644
--- a/sphinx/directives/patches.py
+++ b/sphinx/directives/patches.py
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ def run(self) -> List[Node]:
 
         code = '\n'.join(self.content)
         node = nodes.literal_block(code, code,
-                                   classes=self.options.get('classes', []),
+                                   classes=self.options.get('class', []),
                                    force='force' in self.options,
                                    highlight_args={})
         self.add_name(node)