diff --git a/_pytest/mark.py b/_pytest/mark.py
index 4f6fc5813..6d095a592 100644
--- a/_pytest/mark.py
+++ b/_pytest/mark.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import attr
 from collections import namedtuple
 from operator import attrgetter
 from six.moves import map
+
+from _pytest.config import UsageError
 from .deprecated import MARK_PARAMETERSET_UNPACKING
 from .compat import NOTSET, getfslineno
 
@@ -265,11 +267,11 @@ def matchkeyword(colitem, keywordexpr):
         return not mapping[keywordexpr[4:]]
     for kwd in keywordexpr.split():
         if keyword.iskeyword(kwd) and kwd not in python_keywords_allowed_list:
-            raise AttributeError("Python keyword '{}' not accepted in expressions passed to '-k'".format(kwd))
+            raise UsageError("Python keyword '{}' not accepted in expressions passed to '-k'".format(kwd))
     try:
         return eval(keywordexpr, {}, mapping)
     except SyntaxError:
-        raise AttributeError("Wrong expression passed to '-k': {}".format(keywordexpr))
+        raise UsageError("Wrong expression passed to '-k': {}".format(keywordexpr))
 
 
 def pytest_configure(config):
diff --git a/testing/test_mark.py b/testing/test_mark.py
index f3a7af1d1..45e88ae8f 100644
--- a/testing/test_mark.py
+++ b/testing/test_mark.py
@@ -345,8 +345,8 @@ def test_keyword_option_parametrize(spec, testdir):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("spec", [
-    ("foo or import", "AttributeError: Python keyword 'import' not accepted in expressions passed to '-k'"),
-    ("foo or", "AttributeError: Wrong expression passed to '-k': foo or")
+    ("foo or import", "ERROR: Python keyword 'import' not accepted in expressions passed to '-k'"),
+    ("foo or", "ERROR: Wrong expression passed to '-k': foo or")
 ])
 def test_keyword_option_wrong_arguments(spec, testdir, capsys):
     testdir.makepyfile("""
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ def test_keyword_option_wrong_arguments(spec, testdir, capsys):
         """)
     opt, expected_result = spec
     testdir.inline_run("-k", opt)
-    out = capsys.readouterr()[0]
+    out = capsys.readouterr().err
     assert expected_result in out