diff --git a/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx b/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx
index 6808e8689..f5b2921ee 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx
+++ b/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ cdef class ArcEager(TransitionSystem):
         st.fast_forward()
 
     cdef int finalize_state(self, StateClass st) except -1:
-        cdef int root_label = self.strings['root']
+        cdef int root_label = self.strings['ROOT']
         for i in range(st.length):
             if st._sent[i].head == 0 and st._sent[i].dep == 0:
                 st._sent[i].dep = root_label