diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 3e55751..c2d0890 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@ Changelog
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Fixed
 ~~~~~
-* use the correct version of `rapidfuzz-cpp` when building against a system installed version
+* use the correct version of ``rapidfuzz-cpp`` when building against a system installed version
 
 
 [3.8.0] - 2024-04-06
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Added
 ~~~~~
-* added ``process.cpdist`` which allows pairwise comparision of two collection of inputs
+* added ``process.cpdist`` which allows pairwise comparison of two collection of inputs
 
 Fixed
 ~~~~~
diff --git a/src/rapidfuzz/distance/JaroWinkler_py.py b/src/rapidfuzz/distance/JaroWinkler_py.py
index 0f3fbc4..dfda36e 100644
--- a/src/rapidfuzz/distance/JaroWinkler_py.py
+++ b/src/rapidfuzz/distance/JaroWinkler_py.py
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ def similarity(
         score_cutoff = 0
 
     if prefix_weight > 1.0 or prefix_weight < 0.0:
-        raise ValueError("prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0")
+        msg = "prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     s1, s2 = conv_sequences(s1, s2)
     P_len = len(s1)
diff --git a/src/rapidfuzz/distance/metrics_cpp.pyx b/src/rapidfuzz/distance/metrics_cpp.pyx
index 468d8a9..7fec52a 100644
--- a/src/rapidfuzz/distance/metrics_cpp.pyx
+++ b/src/rapidfuzz/distance/metrics_cpp.pyx
@@ -948,7 +948,8 @@ def jaro_winkler_distance(s1, s2, *, double prefix_weight=0.1, processor=None, s
         return 1.0
 
     if prefix_weight > 1.0 or prefix_weight < 0.0:
-        raise ValueError("prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0")
+        msg = "prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     cdef double c_score_cutoff = get_score_cutoff_f64(score_cutoff, 1.0, 0.0)
     preprocess_strings(s1, s2, processor, &s1_proc, &s2_proc)
@@ -961,7 +962,8 @@ def jaro_winkler_similarity(s1, s2, *, double prefix_weight=0.1, processor=None,
         return 0.0
 
     if prefix_weight > 1.0 or prefix_weight < 0.0:
-        raise ValueError("prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0")
+        msg = "prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     cdef double c_score_cutoff = get_score_cutoff_f64(score_cutoff, 0.0, 1.0)
     preprocess_strings(s1, s2, processor, &s1_proc, &s2_proc)
@@ -974,7 +976,8 @@ def jaro_winkler_normalized_distance(s1, s2, *, double prefix_weight=0.1, proces
         return 1.0
 
     if prefix_weight > 1.0 or prefix_weight < 0.0:
-        raise ValueError("prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0")
+        msg = "prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     cdef double c_score_cutoff = get_score_cutoff_f64(score_cutoff, 1.0, 0.0)
     preprocess_strings(s1, s2, processor, &s1_proc, &s2_proc)
@@ -987,7 +990,8 @@ def jaro_winkler_normalized_similarity(s1, s2, *, double prefix_weight=0.1, proc
         return 0.0
 
     if prefix_weight > 1.0 or prefix_weight < 0.0:
-        raise ValueError("prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0")
+        msg = "prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     cdef double c_score_cutoff = get_score_cutoff_f64(score_cutoff, 0.0, 1.0)
     preprocess_strings(s1, s2, processor, &s1_proc, &s2_proc)
@@ -1002,7 +1006,8 @@ cdef bool JaroWinklerKwargsInit(RF_Kwargs * self, dict kwargs) except False:
     prefix_weight[0] = kwargs.get("prefix_weight", 0.1)
     if prefix_weight[0] > 1.0 or prefix_weight[0] < 0.0:
         free(prefix_weight)
-        raise ValueError("prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0")
+        msg = "prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     self.context = prefix_weight
     self.dtor = KwargsDeinit
diff --git a/tests/distance/test_JaroWinkler.py b/tests/distance/test_JaroWinkler.py
index f9d955a..c44f45c 100644
--- a/tests/distance/test_JaroWinkler.py
+++ b/tests/distance/test_JaroWinkler.py
@@ -9,16 +9,19 @@ from tests.distance.common import JaroWinkler
 def test_hash_special_case():
     assert pytest.approx(JaroWinkler.similarity([0, -1], [0, -2])) == 0.666666
 
+
 def test_large_prefix_weight():
-    assert pytest.approx(JaroWinkler.similarity('milyarder', 'milyarderlik',prefix_weight=0.5)) == 1.0
-    assert pytest.approx(JaroWinkler.similarity('milyarder', 'milyarderlik',prefix_weight=1.0)) == 1.0
+    assert pytest.approx(JaroWinkler.similarity("milyarder", "milyarderlik", prefix_weight=0.5)) == 1.0
+    assert pytest.approx(JaroWinkler.similarity("milyarder", "milyarderlik", prefix_weight=1.0)) == 1.0
+
 
 def test_invalid_prefix_weight():
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"):
-        JaroWinkler.similarity('milyarder', 'milyarderlik',prefix_weight=-0.1)
+        JaroWinkler.similarity("milyarder", "milyarderlik", prefix_weight=-0.1)
 
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="prefix_weight has to be in the range 0.0 - 1.0"):
-        JaroWinkler.similarity('milyarder', 'milyarderlik',prefix_weight=1.1)
+        JaroWinkler.similarity("milyarder", "milyarderlik", prefix_weight=1.1)
+
 
 def test_edge_case_lengths():
     """