diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3 b/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3
index 328ee1a4d62d..65173cf575c9 100644
--- a/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3
+++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3
@@ -117,8 +117,9 @@ is returned and
 the memory referenced by
 .Fa ptr
 is valid and unchanged.
-If memory can be allocated, a pointer to the newly allocated portion of
-the memory is returned.
+If memory can be allocated, the memory referenced by
+.Fa ptr
+is freed and a pointer to the newly allocated memory is returned.
 Note that this may be different from the value
 passed as
 .Fa ptr .