diff --git a/src/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php b/src/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php
index 2326e9eb5092d..1d2a5427dcc87 100644
--- a/src/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php
+++ b/src/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
  *
  * @param int|string $cat_name        Category name.
  * @param int        $category_parent Optional. ID of parent category.
- * @return string|null Returns the category ID as a numeric string if the pairing exists, null if not.
+ * @return int|null Returns the category ID if the pairing exists, null if not.
  */
 function category_exists( $cat_name, $category_parent = null ) {
 	$id = term_exists( $cat_name, 'category', $category_parent );
diff --git a/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php b/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
index bd83110e3fecf..8051aca400059 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
@@ -1576,8 +1576,8 @@ function term_exists( $term, $taxonomy = '', $parent_term = null ) {
 
 	if ( ! empty( $taxonomy ) ) {
 		return array(
-			'term_id'          => (string) $_term->term_id,
-			'term_taxonomy_id' => (string) $_term->term_taxonomy_id,
+			'term_id'          => (int) $_term->term_id,
+			'term_taxonomy_id' => (int) $_term->term_taxonomy_id,
 		);
 	}