diff --git a/common/xutil.c b/common/xutil.c
index 7e0c9a88..bda02371 100644
--- a/common/xutil.c
+++ b/common/xutil.c
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ xutil_error_handler_catch_all_set(xcb_event_handlers_t *evenths,
 	xcb_event_set_error_handler(evenths, err_num, handler, data);
 }
 
-xcb_keysym_t
+uint16_t
 xutil_key_mask_fromstr(const char *keyname, size_t len)
 {
     switch(a_tokenize(keyname, len))
diff --git a/common/xutil.h b/common/xutil.h
index f63351ea..2755bd48 100644
--- a/common/xutil.h
+++ b/common/xutil.h
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ bool xutil_text_prop_get(xcb_connection_t *, xcb_window_t, xcb_atom_t, char **,
 void xutil_error_handler_catch_all_set(xcb_event_handlers_t *,
                                        xcb_generic_error_handler_t, void *);
 
-xcb_keysym_t xutil_key_mask_fromstr(const char *, size_t);
+uint16_t xutil_key_mask_fromstr(const char *, size_t);
 unsigned int xutil_button_fromint(int);
 
 /* Get the informations about the screen.