diff --git a/pandas/io/excel/_base.py b/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
index ced2ad91dba1e..460af65a60bf6 100644
--- a/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
+++ b/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@
     Strings are used for sheet names. Integers are used in zero-indexed
     sheet positions (chart sheets do not count as a sheet position).
     Lists of strings/integers are used to request multiple sheets.
-    Specify ``None`` to get all worksheets.
+    When ``None``, will return a dictionary containing DataFrames for each sheet.
 
     Available cases:
 
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
     * ``"Sheet1"``: Load sheet with name "Sheet1"
     * ``[0, 1, "Sheet5"]``: Load first, second and sheet named "Sheet5"
       as a dict of `DataFrame`
-    * ``None``: All worksheets.
+    * ``None``: Returns a dictionary containing DataFrames for each sheet..
 
 header : int, list of int, default 0
     Row (0-indexed) to use for the column labels of the parsed
@@ -1649,7 +1649,8 @@ def parse(
             Strings are used for sheet names. Integers are used in zero-indexed
             sheet positions (chart sheets do not count as a sheet position).
             Lists of strings/integers are used to request multiple sheets.
-            Specify ``None`` to get all worksheets.
+            When ``None``, will return a dictionary containing DataFrames for
+            each sheet.
         header : int, list of int, default 0
             Row (0-indexed) to use for the column labels of the parsed
             DataFrame. If a list of integers is passed those row positions will