diff --git a/docs/contracts/index.md b/docs/contracts/index.md
index 6171e3dab..95ade1563 100644
--- a/docs/contracts/index.md
+++ b/docs/contracts/index.md
@@ -48,11 +48,9 @@ AssertionError: divide argument '2' did not match type annotation for parameter
 
 ## API
 
-The `python_ta.contracts` module offers three functions for enabling contract checking.
+The `python_ta.contracts` module offers two functions for enabling contract checking.
 The first, `check_all_contracts`, enables contract checking for all functions and classes defined within a module or set of modules.
-The second, `check_contracts`, is a decorator allowing more fine-grained control over which
-functions/classes have contract checking enabled. The third, `check_invariants`, takes in an object and checks
-that the representation invariants of the object are satisfied.
+The second, `check_contracts`, is a decorator allowing more fine-grained control over which functions/classes have contract checking enabled.
 
 ```{eval-rst}
 .. autofunction:: python_ta.contracts.check_all_contracts
@@ -62,6 +60,8 @@ that the representation invariants of the object are satisfied.
 .. autofunction:: python_ta.contracts.check_contracts(func_or_class)
 ```
 
+You can pass an object into the function `validate_invariants` to manually check the representation invariants of the object.
+
 ```{eval-rst}
 .. autofunction:: python_ta.contracts.check_invariants(object)
 ```
diff --git a/python_ta/contracts/__init__.py b/python_ta/contracts/__init__.py
index f06b26124..a686f5644 100644
--- a/python_ta/contracts/__init__.py
+++ b/python_ta/contracts/__init__.py
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ def _set_invariants(klass: type) -> None:
     setattr(klass, "__representation_invariants__", rep_invariants)
 
 
-def check_invariants(obj: object) -> None:
+def validate_invariants(obj: object) -> None:
     """Check that the representation invariants of obj are satisfied."""
     klass = obj.__class__
     klass_mod = _get_module(klass)
diff --git a/tests/test_check_invariants.py b/tests/test_validate_invariants.py
similarity index 85%
rename from tests/test_check_invariants.py
rename to tests/test_validate_invariants.py
index 50a450186..279ffe9d8 100644
--- a/tests/test_check_invariants.py
+++ b/tests/test_validate_invariants.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-from python_ta.contracts import check_contracts, check_invariants
+from python_ta.contracts import check_contracts, validate_invariants
 
 
 @check_contracts
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ def test_no_errors() -> None:
     person = Person("Jim", 50, ["Pam", "Dwight"])
 
     try:
-        check_invariants(person)
-    except Exception:
-        pytest.fail("check_invariants has incorrectly raised an error")
+        validate_invariants(person)
+    except AssertionError:
+        pytest.fail("check_invariants has incorrectly raised an AssertionError")
 
 
 def test_raise_error() -> None:
@@ -45,4 +45,4 @@ def test_raise_error() -> None:
     person.friends.pop()
 
     with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
-        check_invariants(person)
+        validate_invariants(person)