diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
index 057f66430cc..7929bafce9f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
@@ -1499,11 +1499,13 @@ GALAXY_REQUIRED_VALID_SIGNATURE_COUNT:
   - This should be a positive integer or all to indicate all signatures must successfully validate the collection.
   - Prepend + to the value to fail if no valid signatures are found for the collection.
 HOST_KEY_CHECKING:
-  # note: constant not in use by ssh plugin anymore
+  # NOTE: constant not in use by ssh/paramiko plugins anymore, but they do support the same configuration sources
   # TODO: check non ssh connection plugins for use/migration
-  name: Check host keys
+  name: Toggle host/key check
   default: True
-  description: 'Set this to "False" if you want to avoid host key checking by the underlying tools Ansible uses to connect to the host'
+  description:
+    - Set this to "False" if you want to avoid host key checking by the underlying connection plugin Ansible uses to connect to the host.
+    - Please read the documentation of the specific connection plugin used for details.
   env: [{name: ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING}]
   ini:
   - {key: host_key_checking, section: defaults}
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
index dc8ffbff142..9754397efa9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ DOCUMENTATION = '''
         - connection_pipelining
     version_added: historical
     notes:
+        - This plugin is mostly a wrapper to the ``ssh`` CLI utility and the exact behavior of the options depends on this tool.
+          This means that the documentation provided here is subject to be overridden by the CLI tool itself.
         - Many options default to V(None) here but that only means we do not override the SSH tool's defaults and/or configuration.
           For example, if you specify the port in this plugin it will override any C(Port) entry in your C(.ssh/config).
         - The ssh CLI tool uses return code 255 as a 'connection error', this can conflict with commands/tools that
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ DOCUMENTATION = '''
                - name: delegated_vars['ansible_host']
                - name: delegated_vars['ansible_ssh_host']
       host_key_checking:
-          description: Determines if SSH should check host keys.
+          description: Determines if SSH should reject or not a connection after checking host keys.
           default: True
           type: boolean
           ini: