diff --git a/migration/vmstate.c b/migration/vmstate.c
index b51212a75b..ff5d589a6d 100644
--- a/migration/vmstate.c
+++ b/migration/vmstate.c
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ static int vmstate_subsection_load(QEMUFile *f, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,
 
         len = qemu_peek_byte(f, 1);
         if (len < strlen(vmsd->name) + 1) {
-            /* subsection name has be be "section_name/a" */
+            /* subsection name has to be "section_name/a" */
             trace_vmstate_subsection_load_bad(vmsd->name, "(short)", "");
             return 0;
         }