diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/config.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/config.ts
index 13898df29fa7a..2ef82baf3304e 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/config.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/config.ts
@@ -56,12 +56,12 @@ export async function makeConfig(): Promise<CliConfig> {
           'show-dependencies': { type: 'boolean', default: false, alias: 'd', desc: 'Display stack dependency information for each stack' },
         },
       },
-      synthesize: {
+      synth: {
         arg: {
           name: 'STACKS',
           variadic: true,
         },
-        aliases: ['synth'],
+        aliases: ['synthesize'],
         description: 'Synthesizes and prints the CloudFormation template for this stack',
         options: {
           exclusively: { type: 'boolean', alias: 'e', desc: 'Only synthesize requested stacks, don\'t include dependencies' },
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/convert-to-user-input.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/convert-to-user-input.ts
index de07f9b3c0eef..f3ffcd4eee611 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/convert-to-user-input.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/convert-to-user-input.ts
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ export function convertYargsToUserInput(args: any): UserInput {
       };
       break;
 
-    case 'synthesize':
     case 'synth':
+    case 'synthesize':
       commandOptions = {
         exclusively: args.exclusively,
         validation: args.validation,
@@ -292,10 +292,10 @@ export function convertConfigToUserInput(config: any): UserInput {
     long: config.list?.long,
     showDependencies: config.list?.showDependencies,
   };
-  const synthesizeOptions = {
-    exclusively: config.synthesize?.exclusively,
-    validation: config.synthesize?.validation,
-    quiet: config.synthesize?.quiet,
+  const synthOptions = {
+    exclusively: config.synth?.exclusively,
+    validation: config.synth?.validation,
+    quiet: config.synth?.quiet,
   };
   const bootstrapOptions = {
     bootstrapBucketName: config.bootstrap?.bootstrapBucketName,
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ export function convertConfigToUserInput(config: any): UserInput {
   const userInput: UserInput = {
     globalOptions,
     list: listOptions,
-    synthesize: synthesizeOptions,
+    synth: synthOptions,
     bootstrap: bootstrapOptions,
     gc: gcOptions,
     deploy: deployOptions,
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/parse-command-line-arguments.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/parse-command-line-arguments.ts
index b0d4f3060024e..20b09694290fa 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/parse-command-line-arguments.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/parse-command-line-arguments.ts
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ export function parseCommandLineArguments(args: Array<string>): any {
           desc: 'Display stack dependency information for each stack',
         }),
     )
-    .command(['synthesize [STACKS..]', 'synth [STACKS..]'], 'Synthesizes and prints the CloudFormation template for this stack', (yargs: Argv) =>
+    .command(['synth [STACKS..]', 'synthesize [STACKS..]'], 'Synthesizes and prints the CloudFormation template for this stack', (yargs: Argv) =>
       yargs
         .option('exclusively', {
           default: undefined,
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/user-input.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/user-input.ts
index 13ae60938f6ff..992202dfaec72 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/user-input.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/user-input.ts
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ export interface UserInput {
   /**
    * Synthesizes and prints the CloudFormation template for this stack
    *
-   * aliases: synth
+   * aliases: synthesize
    */
-  readonly synthesize?: SynthesizeOptions;
+  readonly synth?: SynthOptions;
 
   /**
    * Deploys the CDK toolkit stack into an AWS environment
@@ -337,11 +337,11 @@ export interface ListOptions {
 /**
  * Synthesizes and prints the CloudFormation template for this stack
  *
- * aliases: synth
+ * aliases: synthesize
  *
  * @struct
  */
-export interface SynthesizeOptions {
+export interface SynthOptions {
   /**
    * Only synthesize requested stacks, don't include dependencies
    *
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ export interface SynthesizeOptions {
   readonly quiet?: boolean;
 
   /**
-   * Positional argument for synthesize
+   * Positional argument for synth
    */
   readonly STACKS?: Array<string>;
 }
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/cli-arguments.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/cli-arguments.test.ts
index 32ad80da77e84..ad0bfecd0cf74 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/cli-arguments.test.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/cli-arguments.test.ts
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
       metadata: expect.anything(),
       migrate: expect.anything(),
       rollback: expect.anything(),
-      synthesize: expect.anything(),
+      synth: expect.anything(),
       watch: expect.anything(),
       notices: expect.anything(),
       import: expect.anything(),