diff --git a/synapse/storage/background_updates.py b/synapse/storage/background_updates.py
index 0e430356cd35d10128b97653463e7e0c069214d3..510963eb7fe466a0128e297933b610c61a657ad4 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/background_updates.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/background_updates.py
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ class BackgroundUpdater(object):
         if self._all_done:
             return True
 
-        # obviously, if we have things in our queue, we're not done.
+        # obviously, if we are currently processing an update, we're not done.
         if self._current_background_update:
             return False