diff --git a/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala b/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala
index 412dfe38d55ebc57e4e62bbf1e88d34e9e985d63..fd2694fe7278d3cd017de0082c17384bd9802e65 100644
--- a/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala
+++ b/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ private[spark] class YarnClientSchedulerBackend(
     // variables.
     List(("--driver-memory", "SPARK_MASTER_MEMORY", "spark.master.memory"),
       ("--driver-memory", "SPARK_DRIVER_MEMORY", "spark.driver.memory"),
-      ("--num-executors", "SPARK_WORKER_INSTANCES", "spark.worker.instances"),
+      ("--num-executors", "SPARK_WORKER_INSTANCES", "spark.executor.instances"),
       ("--num-executors", "SPARK_EXECUTOR_INSTANCES", "spark.executor.instances"),
       ("--executor-memory", "SPARK_WORKER_MEMORY", "spark.executor.memory"),
       ("--executor-memory", "SPARK_EXECUTOR_MEMORY", "spark.executor.memory"),