diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c379788f..dea5ddfa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 [![Build Status](https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab_server/workflows/Tests/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab_server/actions?query=branch%3Amaster+workflow%3A%22Tests%22)
 [![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/jupyterlab_server/badge/?version=stable)](http://jupyterlab_server.readthedocs.io/en/stable/)
 
-## Movivation
+## Motivation
 
 JupyterLab Server sits between JupyterLab and Jupyter Server, and provides a
 set of REST API handlers and utilities that are used by JupyterLab.  It is a separate project in order to