diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
index 84383afed1d03..717e9bc23c6b1 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_excel.py
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ def test_excel_read_buffer(self, ext):
 
     def test_bad_engine_raises(self, ext):
         bad_engine = 'foo'
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError, message="Unknown engine: foo"):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Unknown engine: foo"):
             read_excel('', engine=bad_engine)
 
     @tm.network
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_pytables.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_pytables.py
index 55b738a56f809..517a3e059469c 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_pytables.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_pytables.py
@@ -3923,7 +3923,7 @@ def test_read_column(self):
             # HDFStore.select_column should raise a KeyError
             # exception if the key is not a valid store
             with pytest.raises(KeyError,
-                               message='No object named index in the file'):
+                               match='No object named df in the file'):
                 store.select_column('df', 'index')
 
             store.append('df', df)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/scalar/timestamp/test_unary_ops.py b/pandas/tests/scalar/timestamp/test_unary_ops.py
index 6fc6aa98fe950..3f9a30d254126 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/scalar/timestamp/test_unary_ops.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/scalar/timestamp/test_unary_ops.py
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ def test_round_dst_border_nonexistent(self, method, ts_str, freq):
         assert result is NaT
 
         with pytest.raises(pytz.NonExistentTimeError,
-                           message='2018-03-11 02:00:00'):
+                           match='2018-03-11 02:00:00'):
             getattr(ts, method)(freq, nonexistent='raise')
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize('timestamp', [
diff --git a/pandas/tests/series/test_datetime_values.py b/pandas/tests/series/test_datetime_values.py
index 52b72bcafe555..a916cf300653a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/series/test_datetime_values.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/series/test_datetime_values.py
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ def test_dt_round_tz_nonexistent(self, method, ts_str, freq):
         tm.assert_series_equal(result, expected)
 
         with pytest.raises(pytz.NonExistentTimeError,
-                           message='2018-03-11 02:00:00'):
+                           match='2018-03-11 02:00:00'):
             getattr(s.dt, method)(freq, nonexistent='raise')
 
     def test_dt_namespace_accessor_categorical(self):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/sparse/frame/test_frame.py b/pandas/tests/sparse/frame/test_frame.py
index f908c7b263dee..bfb5103c97adc 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/sparse/frame/test_frame.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/sparse/frame/test_frame.py
@@ -216,8 +216,8 @@ def test_constructor_from_unknown_type(self):
         class Unknown(object):
             pass
         with pytest.raises(TypeError,
-                           message='SparseDataFrame called with unknown type '
-                                   '"Unknown" for data argument'):
+                           match=('SparseDataFrame called with unknown type '
+                                  '"Unknown" for data argument')):
             SparseDataFrame(Unknown())
 
     def test_constructor_preserve_attr(self):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_config.py b/pandas/tests/test_config.py
index 6e47f5543012f..54db3887850ea 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_config.py
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ def test_deprecate_option(self):
             warnings.simplefilter('always')
             with pytest.raises(
                     KeyError,
-                    message="Nonexistent option didn't raise KeyError"):
+                    match="No such keys.s.: 'foo'"):
                 self.cf.get_option('foo')
             assert len(w) == 1  # should have raised one warning
             assert 'deprecated' in str(w[-1])  # we get the default message