diff --git a/Lib/tkinter/test/test_tkinter/test_widgets.py b/Lib/tkinter/test/test_tkinter/test_widgets.py
index cbb5d634e3d348b..e4c155efe77d79e 100644
--- a/Lib/tkinter/test/test_tkinter/test_widgets.py
+++ b/Lib/tkinter/test/test_tkinter/test_widgets.py
@@ -1244,8 +1244,11 @@ def test_configure_title(self):
 
     def test_configure_type(self):
         widget = self.create()
-        self.checkEnumParam(widget, 'type',
-                'normal', 'tearoff', 'menubar')
+        self.checkEnumParam(
+            widget, 'type',
+            'normal', 'tearoff', 'menubar',
+            errmsg='bad type "{}": must be normal, tearoff, or menubar',
+            )
 
     def test_entryconfigure(self):
         m1 = self.create()
diff --git a/Lib/tkinter/test/test_ttk/test_widgets.py b/Lib/tkinter/test/test_ttk/test_widgets.py
index 1fac83a004a6d0e..88a800d05e4cacc 100644
--- a/Lib/tkinter/test/test_ttk/test_widgets.py
+++ b/Lib/tkinter/test/test_ttk/test_widgets.py
@@ -169,10 +169,13 @@ def checkImageParam(self, widget, name):
                 errmsg='image "spam" doesn\'t exist')
 
     def test_configure_compound(self):
+        options = 'none text image center top bottom left right'.split()
+        errmsg = (
+            'bad compound "{}": must be'
+            f' {", ".join(options[:-1])}, or {options[-1]}'
+            )
         widget = self.create()
-        self.checkEnumParam(widget, 'compound',
-                'none', 'text', 'image', 'center',
-                'top', 'bottom', 'left', 'right')
+        self.checkEnumParam(widget, 'compound', *options, errmsg=errmsg)
 
     def test_configure_state(self):
         widget = self.create()