diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/options.py b/django/contrib/admin/options.py
index a527e42c6d..0b79ac75ef 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/options.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/options.py
@@ -1019,7 +1019,7 @@ class ModelAdmin(BaseModelAdmin):
             # Otherwise, use the field with icontains.
             return "%s__icontains" % field_name
 
-        use_distinct = False
+        may_have_duplicates = False
         search_fields = self.get_search_fields(request)
         if search_fields and search_term:
             orm_lookups = [construct_search(str(search_field))
@@ -1030,9 +1030,11 @@ class ModelAdmin(BaseModelAdmin):
                 or_queries = [models.Q(**{orm_lookup: bit})
                               for orm_lookup in orm_lookups]
                 queryset = queryset.filter(reduce(operator.or_, or_queries))
-            use_distinct |= any(lookup_needs_distinct(self.opts, search_spec) for search_spec in orm_lookups)
-
-        return queryset, use_distinct
+            may_have_duplicates |= any(
+                lookup_needs_distinct(self.opts, search_spec)
+                for search_spec in orm_lookups
+            )
+        return queryset, may_have_duplicates
 
     def get_preserved_filters(self, request):
         """
diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py b/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
index fefed29933..dc43e7849d 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class ChangeList:
 
     def get_filters(self, request):
         lookup_params = self.get_filters_params()
-        use_distinct = False
+        may_have_duplicates = False
         has_active_filters = False
 
         for key, value in lookup_params.items():
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ class ChangeList:
                 # processes. If that happened, check if distinct() is needed to
                 # remove duplicate results.
                 if lookup_params_count > len(lookup_params):
-                    use_distinct = use_distinct or lookup_needs_distinct(self.lookup_opts, field_path)
+                    may_have_duplicates |= lookup_needs_distinct(self.lookup_opts, field_path)
             if spec and spec.has_output():
                 filter_specs.append(spec)
                 if lookup_params_count > len(lookup_params):
@@ -203,9 +203,9 @@ class ChangeList:
         try:
             for key, value in lookup_params.items():
                 lookup_params[key] = prepare_lookup_value(key, value)
-                use_distinct = use_distinct or lookup_needs_distinct(self.lookup_opts, key)
+                may_have_duplicates |= lookup_needs_distinct(self.lookup_opts, key)
             return (
-                filter_specs, bool(filter_specs), lookup_params, use_distinct,
+                filter_specs, bool(filter_specs), lookup_params, may_have_duplicates,
                 has_active_filters,
             )
         except FieldDoesNotExist as e:
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ class ChangeList:
             self.filter_specs,
             self.has_filters,
             remaining_lookup_params,
-            filters_use_distinct,
+            filters_may_have_duplicates,
             self.has_active_filters,
         ) = self.get_filters(request)
         # Then, we let every list filter modify the queryset to its liking.
@@ -480,7 +480,9 @@ class ChangeList:
         qs = qs.order_by(*ordering)
 
         # Apply search results
-        qs, search_use_distinct = self.model_admin.get_search_results(request, qs, self.query)
+        qs, search_may_have_duplicates = self.model_admin.get_search_results(
+            request, qs, self.query,
+        )
 
         # Set query string for clearing all filters.
         self.clear_all_filters_qs = self.get_query_string(
@@ -488,7 +490,7 @@ class ChangeList:
             remove=self.get_filters_params(),
         )
         # Remove duplicates from results, if necessary
-        if filters_use_distinct | search_use_distinct:
+        if filters_may_have_duplicates | search_may_have_duplicates:
             return qs.distinct()
         else:
             return qs
diff --git a/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt b/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt
index 5b3493c858..8da7a72f10 100644
--- a/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt
@@ -1576,14 +1576,16 @@ templates used by the :class:`ModelAdmin` views:
             search_fields = ('name',)
 
             def get_search_results(self, request, queryset, search_term):
-                queryset, use_distinct = super().get_search_results(request, queryset, search_term)
+                queryset, may_have_duplicates = super().get_search_results(
+                    request, queryset, search_term,
+                )
                 try:
                     search_term_as_int = int(search_term)
                 except ValueError:
                     pass
                 else:
                     queryset |= self.model.objects.filter(age=search_term_as_int)
-                return queryset, use_distinct
+                return queryset, may_have_duplicates
 
     This implementation is more efficient than ``search_fields =
     ('name', '=age')`` which results in a string comparison for the numeric
diff --git a/tests/admin_views/admin.py b/tests/admin_views/admin.py
index 951d62d228..e2ecc9ed53 100644
--- a/tests/admin_views/admin.py
+++ b/tests/admin_views/admin.py
@@ -653,14 +653,16 @@ class PluggableSearchPersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
     search_fields = ('name',)
 
     def get_search_results(self, request, queryset, search_term):
-        queryset, use_distinct = super().get_search_results(request, queryset, search_term)
+        queryset, may_have_duplicates = super().get_search_results(
+            request, queryset, search_term,
+        )
         try:
             search_term_as_int = int(search_term)
         except ValueError:
             pass
         else:
             queryset |= self.model.objects.filter(age=search_term_as_int)
-        return queryset, use_distinct
+        return queryset, may_have_duplicates
 
 
 class AlbumAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):