diff --git a/sys/man/1/2l b/sys/man/1/2l
index dfdb132e5..b643efe13 100644
--- a/sys/man/1/2l
+++ b/sys/man/1/2l
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ and
 .L _traceout
 at function exits.
 .TP
-.B -f
-(ARM only) Generate VFP hardware floating point instructions.
+.B -F
+(ARM only) Don't generate VFP hardware floating point instructions.
 .TP
 .B -s
 Strip the symbol tables from the output file.
diff --git a/sys/src/cmd/5l/span.c b/sys/src/cmd/5l/span.c
index e3e02f1ac..17565e8fe 100644
--- a/sys/src/cmd/5l/span.c
+++ b/sys/src/cmd/5l/span.c
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ buildop(void)
 	int i, n, r;
 
 	armv4 = !debug['h'];
-	vfp = debug['f'];
+	vfp = !debug['F'];
 	for(i=0; i<C_GOK; i++)
 		for(n=0; n<C_GOK; n++)
 			xcmp[i][n] = cmp(n, i);